road weary tax burden

Roads make up the largest part of the city’s infrastructure deficit of $195 million a year.

Taxpayers get to keep a whopping $27

City hall has whittled down this year’s projected 2.4 per cent residential tax hike to 1.6 per cent — or an extra $53 on the average homeowner’s tax bill.

“That’s the lowest tax increase since amalgamation,” city finance chief Rob Rossini told councillors Thursday afternoon. “We’ve identified an additional $6.4 million in budget reductions.”

The new budget numbers come in the face of council’s resolve to achieve a zero increase to the tax levy with no cuts to service levels.

“Are we finished? No. How close we get to zero remains to be seen,” Rossini said.

The overall projected residential tax hike includes a .6 per cent increase for city departments, .6 per cent for boards and agencies, and .5 per cent for capital projects.

The total 1.6 per cent tax hike represents the weighted average of a 1.7 per cent total municipal tax hike and a .7 per cent education tax hike. Municipal taxes make up 80 per cent of the total residential tax bill and education 20 per cent. The average assessed house in Hamilton is $240,000.

“I was concerned that we would do something extreme that would put us in a difficult position next year,” Mayor Bob Bratina said. “The key question was if these reductions are sustainable or are they something we have to come back and fix next year.”

The budget process has been rife with major impact items, including labour relations, Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System issues, cost of living allowances, a 5 per cent increase in the police budget and infrastructure costs, Rossini said.

Unlike Councillor Lloyd Ferguson, who said he still has questions about the police budget’s 5 per cent increase, Bratina said he had complete confidence in Chief Glenn De Caire’s “analysis of the needs of his department and the city.”

The tax hike decrease includes an $83.6-million — .5 per cent — capital budget levy approved by the general issues committee Thursday. Staff had recommended a 1.5 per cent capital budget levy increase but had to find about $7.4 million in savings by parking some projects, deferring others, and killing some altogether.

Among the delayed and deferred projects are the Hamilton Culture and Protocol Centre at Auchmar Estate, an antismoking education and signage program for parks and recreation areas, public art, Battlefield Park’s War of 1812 site interpretation, and Hamilton’s east-end air monitoring pilot project.

“Council wanted to focus on hard infrastructure, particularly our local roads program, so we were able to accommodate an $8 million increase to our local roads, which are on a replacement cycle right now of over 100 years, which is crazy,” Rossini said.

Roads make up the largest part of the city’s infrastructure deficit of $195 million a year.

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/496070--taxpayers-get-to-keep-a-whopping-27

Burlington Roads Safer?

“I personally wouldn’t ride my bicycle on the streets of Burlington. I wouldn’t feel safe doing that,” he said.

Burlington roads becoming safer

Fairview & Maple The intersection of Fairview Street and Maple Avenue has the most accidents in Burlington.

Gary Yokoyama/The Hamilton Spectator

BURLINGTON Take a population of 173,000. Give it 1,595 kilometres of road to travel on. Add cars, cars and more cars. Then hold your breath, hoping no one gets hurt.

The good news? While Burlington’s population grew by 3,000 in 2009 and the number of kilometres of road in its jurisdiction increased by 28 kilometres, the number of reportable collisions dropped by 300 to 1,656. That still equates to 4.5 collisions per day.

Since 2005, the number of collisions on Burlington streets has decreased by 10.3 per cent (190 collisions).

Burlington roads are getting safer, suggests Chris Day, supervisor of traffic services. Day’s 2009 road safety assessment will be presented to city councillors Wednesday.

Day credited the triple E effect for the safer streets: engineering, enforcement and education.

And it’s not only collisions that are down. The number of personal injury collisions has decreased 6.4 per cent from 2005 to 2009. There were 295 such collisions in 2009 and one fatality. Injuries occurred in about 18 per cent of all crashes.

Of the 1,656 collisions in 2009, 46 involved pedestrians (2.8 per cent), 38 involved cyclists (2.3 per cent) and 31 involved impaired drivers (1.9 per cent).

Day’s report outlines the top 20 locations in the city that need improvements. The most accident-prone intersection in the city remains Fairview Street and Maple Avenue which has been plagued by rear-end collisions as drivers attempt to turn right onto Fairview from the northbound lanes on Maple Avenue.

“Fairview and Maple Avenue continues to be the top intersection for collisions in the city although we have seen the number of collisions there decrease over the last few years,” Day noted.

That intersection had 178 collisions from 2005 to 2009.

Burlington Councillor Paul Sharman, who has been critical of a Burlington Transit system that is shunned by 97 per cent of residents, wonders half-jokingly whether congested traffic has led to fewer accidents.

“I think that is true. I think we are going slower,” he said, adding a crackdown on impaired driving has likely played a role as well.

Sharman said Burlington is car-friendly. Not so much for cyclists.

“I personally wouldn’t ride my bicycle on the streets of Burlington. I wouldn’t feel safe doing that,” he said.

The top five intersections Day’s report has recommended for improvements are: Fairview/Maple; Fairview between Drury Lane and Guelph Line; Waterdown Road between Flatt Road and Ireson Road; Plains Road between Francis Road and King Road; and Corporate Drive/Mainway.

kpeters@thespec.com

905-526-3388

more roadwork: more tax increases

City wants more roadwork

City council wants to put more money towards updating Hamilton’s battered roads — and councillors are open to reallocating money from other departments to help pay for it.

Road and traffic infrastructure was top of mind for councillors yesterday as they discussed the city’s capital budget.

Staff are recommending a yearly hike of 1.5 per cent for three years and 1 per cent for another seven years to help cover the costs of updating infrastructure. That would add $42 to the tax bill of the average home in Hamilton in 2011 and $9.75 million to the total budget.

Councillors were on board with dedicating extra money to infrastructure, but weren’t prepared to add the 1.5 per cent on top of increases to the city’s operating budget — currently sitting at 3.6 per cent, not including any wage hikes for staff.

“I’m prepared to spend this money, but I’m also prepared to eliminate other expenditures,” said Councillor Sam Merulla.

Council voted yesterday to ask staff for a report detailing “options and alternatives to free up funds” to put towards improving the city’s infrastructure. Councillors will debate that plan on Jan. 21.

Rob Rossini, the city’s general manager of finance, told councillors that his department has already allocated $2.7 million out of the waste management budget to put towards road repair. If council votes for the 1.5 per cent infrastructure surcharge, that revenue will be over and above the $2.7 million from waste management.

The city’s roads are measured on a scale, called the overall condition index, from 1 to 100 — 100 being a perfect road and 0 being a road at the absolute end of its lifespan. The city’s average is 55.8, which is estimated to fall to 46.9 over 10 years. It would cost $640 million over the next decade to maintain the status quo and avoid that decline.

“We’re in a slide. We’re getting to a point where rehabilitation won’t be effective,” said Gerry Davis, the city’s general manager of public works. “Spending a dollar today on the rehabilitation … saves us spending the equivalent of $4 for a full reconstruction.”

Last year’s budget included a 0.5 per cent increase for capital projects, while 2009 contributed no hike to infrastructure.

ereilly@thespec.com

905-526-2452

slow down heading north

North End citizens fight city for more traffic calming measures

North End residents have no problem with the rest of the city traipsing through their neighbourhood to visit the waterfront.

They just want them to be polite about it.

That’s the gist of an expected nine-day Ontario Municipal Board Hearing that began Monday at the McMaster University’s Downtown Centre. The hearing will examine whether the municipality’s Setting Sail planning document, which will lower speed limits on many North End streets, does enough to keep the area’s roads safe enough.

The North End Neighbours, who have appealed the matter being heard before OMB chair Harold Goldkind, says it doesn’t. The group, through their lawyer Herman Turkstra, want speed limit reductions from 50 kilometres an hour to 30 km/h on Burlington Street East, Wellington Street, Ferguson Avenue, John Street and James Street, a redesignation of Bay Street North from collector to local road status and other traffic measures to safeguard the neighbourhood’s 1,200 children.

The neighbourhood is bounded by Wellington Street on the east, the CNR tracks on the south, and Burlington Bay on the west and north sides.

“When you hear councillors say they don’t want people from Ancaster who come down to get a suntan to get a parking ticket, the real issue is does the city really intend to ensure the traffic calming work in the North End and will it be safe for kids to cross the street or not,” Turkstra said.

“The view of the North End Neighbourhood Association is that the present plan does not do anything to address the core issue of child and family safety,” he said.

Turkstra plans to present evidence that what the North End wants is a trade off of 32 seconds, the difference it may take a waterfront bound visitor from travelling down a major collector at 30 km/h rather than the current 50 km/h.

“What the North End is saying is: ‘If you want to come from Ancaster and drive through the neighbourhood, that’s fine. Use James Street and drive slowly. That’s all. Come. We welcome you. We would prefer if you came on foot or by bike or by bus, but if you are going to come by car the speed limit is 30 (km/h), be careful.

“It’s like coming into someone’s house and saying, ‘Do you want me to take my shoes off?’ When you’re a guest in somebody’s house, you’re kind to them,” he said.

But Brian Duxbury, representing the city, told Goldkind that there is a narrow set of issues that are in conflict between the two parties.

Duxbury said a number of traffic calming measures have been approved by city council as part of a traffic management plan included in the Setting Sail policy plan.

“It’s the city’s position that the plan contains a robust and aggressive bundle of traffic calming measures for the North End Neighbours,” Duxbury said. “The city’s position is that no further revisions are needed to Setting Sail.”

The hearing is set to continue Tuesday.

mini-mid pen proposed

CATCH News – November 7, 2010

Flamborough expressway backed by city but opposed by residents

The provincial government is recommending a 35-kilometre highway across Flamborough and the Niagara Escarpment to connect the 403 to the 407. Opposition from residents to this partial mid pen highway was clearly evident at a meeting Wednesday night at the Rockton fairgrounds. City staff and business organizations attended to urge the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) to extend the expressway down the peninsula all the way to Fort Erie and the US border to serve the aerotropolis.

The meeting was called by Citizens Opposed to Paving the Escarpment and Ward 14 councillor Rob Pasuta and was attended by over 75 people. It was addressed by MTO officials and consultants who are working on the Niagara to GTA corridor environmental assessment study. MTO consultant Patrick Puccini outlined a hierarchy of steps starting with optimization of the existing transportation system, followed by rail and transit expansion and widening of existing roads, and finally by construction of a new highway in the Fort Erie-Welland area and study of one across Flamborough.

However, city staff, led by Neil Everson and Alan Kirkpatrick of the economic development department, urged the MTO to make the priority the construction of a full 130 km mid-peninsula highway from Fort Erie to the 407 in Burlington. Everson noted the city’s desire to increase greenfield development, and to connect the aerotropolis (Airport Employment Growth District) with surrounding markets via the mid-pen as well as expansion of highway 6 to six lanes.

Flamborough residents didn’t agree with either government. They contended that the MTO and city are not considering the value of agricultural lands in the planning process and suggested that the planning projections are failing to anticipate rising oil prices.

Pete Zuzek, a member of Citizens Opposed to Paving the Escarpment (COPE) argued that MTO projections for population growth are overly optimistic and based on consultant’s opinions rather than independent peer-reviewed research. He maintained that air quality, remaining agricultural lands, and protection of the Niagara Escarpment ecology are under-valued in MTO’s planning.

In a report presented at COW on October 12, city staff recommended that a mid-peninsula highway be made a priority rather than the “last possible alternative” it was made in the MTO study. At its last meeting before the elections, council voted 15-2 – with Bob Bratina and Brian McHattie opposed – to endorse the staff recommendations.

Bratina moved an amendment to re-insert earlier staff concerns about the cross-Flamborough road. Pasuta seconded the motion but subsequently withdrew his support and voted for the staff package, but on Wednesday evening he said he now opposes the new highway through Flamborough.

Everson and Kirkpatrick foresee an increasing “north-south shift” in goods movement between Hamilton to manufacturing centres in southern US states, such as Georgia and Alabama, rather than traditional markets in Ohio and Michigan. John Best, a representative of the transport industry, and Daniel Rodrigues, a member of the transportation committee at the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce echoed the city’s submission to the MTO.

Both stated that anything less than a full mid-peninsula highway would inhibit goods movement, although Best conceded that the west Hamilton highway segment would likely not be used by truckers, who are unlikely to use the 407 toll highway. Rather, Best and Rodrigues want the highway focused on the Niagara border crossing as well as the GTA.

Best claimed the QEW through Niagara was “overbuilt.” MTO representatives and consultants however noted that the ease of widening the QEW, plus the smaller growth projections in the region, minimized the need for a new corridor in this region.

Everson noted his disappointment at the failure of previous city planners to reserve land next to the Lincoln Alexander Parkway for industrial development. Along with the AEGD, they expect the mid-peninsula and Flamborough highways to offer new opportunities for development – significantly expanding the footprint of the corridor.

When asked why the city doesn’t develop brownfields downtown, Everson claimed too few lands are available due to the unwillingness of brownfield owners to sell them, and he projected there will be a rapid decline of available greenfield sites in the AEGD and other business parks.

Residents vocally opposed any reduction in farmland, either through widening or new road building, noting that over 40,000 acres of farmland have been lost in Flamborough. Pasuta, who supported the AEGD, spoke in favour of protecting farmland.

Judi Partridge, the councillor-elect from Waterdown, was in attendance, and intends to host future community meetings in her ward to review the MTO study.

No end in sight to Toronto’s commuter pain: survey Drivers’ anger at long travel times worse than in New York, Los Angeles, says IBM

Adrian Morrow

Globe and Mail Update Published on Wednesday, Jun. 30, 2010 1:01PM EDT Last updated on Wednesday, Jun. 30, 2010 1:42PM EDT

It's more aggravating to commute in Toronto than in New York, Los Angeles or Berlin – and it's only gotten worse over the past few years, according to a new survey.

IBM released the Commuter Pain Index, a study of more than 20 cities across the globe Wednesday. The report surveyed more than 8,000 commuters on a range of issues including commuting time, whether driving was hurting their health and if commuting caused them to be less productive.

While the top ranks were mostly filled by cities in the developing world (Beijing fared worst) and Toronto ranked 12th worst overall, 64 per cent of Torontonians surveyed said traffic had gotten worse in the past three years. Only commuters in Johannesburg were more likely to say things weren't improving.

Overall, 57 per cent of respondents around the world said traffic was affecting their health.

“It comes back to the trend towards more people living in urban centres,” said Pat Horgan, an IBM vice-president. “Urbanization happens faster than their infrastructure can catch up.”

The consequences are stark, Mr. Horgan said: poorer health, lost productivity and economic stagnation.

There's no easy fix. IBM advocates a wide range of solutions including better public transit, more information for commuters and flexible work hours to reduce bottlenecks on the roads at rush hours.

“We can't just afford to build more lanes of traffic,” Mr. Horgan said.

The cities doing the best job of managing traffic are the ones already implementing such multi-faceted strategies, Mr. Horgan said. Singapore, for instance, has been synchronizing traffic lights while Melbourne has rapidly expanded its light rail transit system.

Perhaps most tellingly, Mr. Horgan points out, commuters in cities with longer travel times than Toronto seem to be feeling less pain than Torontonians. The reason?

“In those cities, people can see that things are getting better,” he said.

Ranking of the emotional and economic toll of commuting in each city on a scale of one to 100, with 100 being the most onerous:

• Beijing: 99
• Mexico City: 99
• Johannesburg: 97
• Moscow: 84
• New Delhi: 81
• Sao Paolo: 75
• Milan: 52
• Buenos Aires: 50
• Madrid: 48
• London: 36
• Paris: 36
• Toronto: 32
• Amsterdam: 25
• Los Angeles: 25
• Berlin: 24
• Montreal: 23
• New York: 19
• Houston: 17
• Melbourne: 17
• Stockholm: 15

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/no-end-in-sight-to-torontos-commuter-pain-survey/article1624502/

TED talk on reversing suburbia

http://www.ted.com/talks/ellen_dunham_jones_retrofitting_suburbia.html

Well worth the 20 minutes. It can't happen soon enough...