"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Sunday 14 August 2016

THREE BLIND MICE GOT THEIR TAILS CUT OFF

YUp

What's  wrong with this picture?

 Posted by the town  Friday on Facebook , in response to a delegation from residents complaining about noise, speed and increased traffic on Henderson Drive.

Appreciation is expressed in a handful of comments.

In the exact location, retail/ commercial frontage occupies both sides of the street. Mary Brown's Chicken closed recently after many years in that spot. The  taters were a special favorite with my grandchildren. Sandwich and salads were the best. The vacancy has been filled but will not likely last forty years. Not without supplies. 

On the south side of  Henderson, Metro supermarket, Harvey's /Swiss Chalet, Dry  Cleaners, Pet Shop  and a couple of other units have also traded since the seventies. A dollar store recently replaced a Drivers' Examination Centre. The latter was a real problem for the immediate neighbourhood with drivers being put through test maneuvers on short ,interior courts . I never understood why the examination Centre was permitted in a retail/commercial zone. The Province doesn't require municipal approval.   

The sign carries a picture of a child running and playing ball on the street. 

It's a lie. A total Trumpian falsehood. I tell you this, it's a fabrication of a twisted and distorted mind. 

In forty years, since the road was opened, as I exited on to Yonge from my neighbourhood, I have never seen a child play on Henderson Drive. Not there , not with a ball, a hockey net, a skate board, a dirt bike ....nuthin'

Why would they? In that location ,both sides of the road are retail /commercial with access to parking lots for business that need deliveries. ..deliveries  that can't be made except with  trucks. 

Council, in all its wisdom, has decided it shall not be. 

Henderson is a through road to Bathurst. Throughout it's length, except for the town house complex
at the Yonge Street end ,one other residence has frontage but no access . 

Residential and  retail commercial at Yonge Street intersection was the original plan of subdivision. 

Henderson had to be constructed  from Lee Gate to Yonge  for the development to proceed, at 
the developer's cost. 

At Bathurst Street end, another developer was required to construct the road from Seaton to Bathurst ,with residential development on the north side only and no lots with access. The developer was bankrupted one Friday afternoon when the road contractor pulled men and equipment off the job because he hadn't been paid. 

Henderson Drive town house residents always shared the road with retail/commercial delivery trucks. The Region required that road configuration. 

Since the first sale, no buyer has ever have been unaware of the character of the neighbourhood. 

Deliveries  are an essential feature of retail business . Banning trucks is contra-indicated. 
People buy. Supplies must be replaced. 

No replacement......business trickles down . ..Zero, Zilch, Nil and Nada......Amen my friend...
Business ends.

Within Environment  and Infrastructure, the town employs a traffic engineering division. 
Untold millions have been expended for space to accommodate the division. 

I'd bet dollars to donuts, no professional input went into the decision to prohibit trucks from Henderson Drive. 

Enforcement of traffic regulation is the responsibility of York Regional Police Department. 

Unless it makes sense, it's not going to happen? How do you tell a truck driver he can't drive on a road he paid to drive on?

I daresay if remaining  business follows Mary Brown's Chicken out of town,  neighbours and Council will be happy to see the traffic problem resolved.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...




How stupid is all of this?

Anonymous said...

The Mary Brown's chicken franchise was ended. The same people own the enterprise that is there now, they just don't have to pay franchise fees.

The children at play sign is there because of the townhouse complex. The intent of the sign is to warn that children may cross the street with out care (ie. after a ball). The intent of the sign is not literal.

Anonymous said...

Evelyn...Council doesn't give a hoot about small businesses in this Town. That's already been established when they planned the SCC, and with a number of businesses who have tried to business with this Town, but have gone to other businesses outside the Town for the same services.

Anonymous said...

That is right across from the Registered dump site.

Anonymous said...


Zero comments on this and the previous.

A disengaged public?

HEAT PROSTRATION?

Boring?

Anonymous said...

15:36, it's incredible that you need to point out the obvious - obvious to anyone with a bit of sense.

Thank You.

Anonymous said...

19:51 What is more incredible is that the sign has probably been there for over 20 years. I guess some of the "small things" get lost when you are a councillor.

Anonymous said...

True, 07:41. The earliest Google Street View dates to 2007, and the 'children at play' sign was there then. It is only the truck sign that has changed.