Dear Editor:
This is in response to Brad Braun's Dec. 14 letter Density+Traffic+Calming=Catatonia:
On Second Street residents pay $20 a year to park in their neighbourhood. Meanwhile, if you go up to Fifth Street you can park there all day for free. The City of North Vancouver has allowed for the huge build-up of Lower Lonsdale without a parking lot or parkade for SeaBus users, so they park on Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Streets. If one chooses to visit someone in that area you can't find a parking spot. Meanwhile, the people in Lower Lonsdale are penalized for parking in front of their homes. Yet, without the signs, that area would be a parking lot for commuters. If they're going to make them pay $20 for parking then every homeowner in the city should pay the $20. Otherwise, issue parking permits for free.
As for the bike lanes fiasco on Marine Drive, the main reason for that is to hook up with the bike lane in the district at Mackay Avenue. In talking with someone in the city finance department, I was told that that project cost approximately $750,000. In the last two years the bike lane traffic has increased 20 per cent. However, at peak traffic times bike ridership is about 120 persons. Do the math, each bicyclist cost the taxpayers $6,250. Feeling good yet? There's more.
At Lonsdale Avenue and 21st Street, kitty corner to
each other, the city removed the pull ins/outs for the buses, saying it helps the drivers. The drivers are professional and know how to pull in and out of traffic. That's what they get paid for doing. On the bumper it says it's the law to yield to buses - which people do. So, they spent all that money for car drivers to fume, smell the fumes and waste gas while waiting for buses to move on. Apparently, people were parking in front of Larry's Sports in the bus zone. The city chose to remove the pull in/out for that reason. Where is bylaw enforcement? That spot would be a cash cow for violators.
Bill Waddington North Vancouver
