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...

cars top industry in air pollution

Air quality improving in Hamilton Cars biggest polluters TheSpec.com - Local - Air quality improving in Hamilton Cars biggest polluters

Emma Reilly
The Hamilton Spectator

(Jun 16, 2010) Breathe deeply. Hamilton's air is cleaner than you think.
Over the past 10 years, the city's air quality has improved dramatically, according to a report from Clean Air Hamilton presented to council members yesterday. In fact, it's been steadily getting better since monitoring began in the 1970s.
"There's no question we're better than we've ever been," said Brian McCarry, a McMaster University chemistry professor and chairperson of Clean Air Hamilton.
"Back in the 1960s -- 40, 50 years ago -- the air was much, much worse."
Major pollutants, like nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide, have all gone down 35 to 50 per cent in the past decade. Last year, the weather and recessionary business slowdowns also contributed to the overall decline in air pollution.
Though most people in Hamilton think the city's air pollution comes from industry, McCarry said, the majority of the problem is caused by cars and trucks.
Since cars have become much cleaner over the past few decades -- and residents are making increased efforts to get out of their cars more often -- decreased vehicle emissions are one of the main reasons Hamilton's air has gotten better.
"Industrial emissions are also going down, but they tend to go in jumps and starts," McCarry explained.
The air quality improvements are so significant that even the air quality around the Red Hill Valley Parkway -- initially expected to get much worse once the highway opened -- has improved from pre-construction levels.
"Frankly, this is a bit of a shocker," said Denis Corr, a consultant who prepared the city's Red Hill report.
The only two days the Red Hill Valley Parkway exceeded the province's air quality standards over a six-month stretch were during a region-wide smog alert on Aug. 17 last year, and during the fire at the Archmill House woodworking factory in Ancaster last Aug. 25.
ereilly@thespec.com
905-526-2452

We keep building infrastructure we can’t afford to fix

CATCH News – June 3, 2010

Massive underspending on infrastructure confirmed

A new study has confirmed that the city needs to spend at least $120 million more each and every year to fix roads and other infrastructure. The report has some politicians pushing for more federal and provincial government grants, but at least one councillor is suggesting it’s time to stop building things we can’t afford to repair.

The city’s first provincially-required Tangible Capital Assets Report was presented to yesterday’s audit and administration committee. It records under-spending in Hamilton of $120.3 million last year on items such as roads, bridges, underground pipes, and water and sewer pipes and facilities.

“Based on the estimated replacement cost of $15.8 billion, an annual sustainable spending level to ensure that our assets are replaced and redeveloped in a timely manner would be approximately $333 million,” says the staff report accompanying the study. “Capital spending on asset replacement and redevelopments in 2009 amounted to $213.1 million, which resulted in a gap of $120 million.”

Similar shortfalls have gone on for years, and raising this amount from property taxes would require about a 25 percent increase in current rates or more. Last year’s deficit was actually lower than normal because the city received substantial stimulus funding from senior levels of government.

The biggest deficit ($91 million) in 2009 was in road spending, with water and wastewater facilities short $24.9 million and a deficit of $24.8 million for “underground and other networks”. The purchase of more than the average number of new buses last year meant that category had spending $15.6 million above the annual target.

Chad Collins and Terry Whitehead encouraged city staff to seek more funding from senior levels of government, with Collins proposing that road monies be the only requests made for any future infrastructure dollars. Council put road projects at the top of a long list submitted for stimulus funding, but the items actually supported were mainly for water projects and recreational facilities.

“When the programs come out at the provincial and federal level, does it make sense for us not to put anything else on the list, except for roads projects,” Collins suggested. “Maybe it’s a lesson learned for us, in light of what happened last time. I understand that we were trying to capture as much money as possible, but at the end of the day, making that list larger than maybe it should have been has probably cost us something as it relates to the infrastructure deficit related to roads and other projects like sidewalks and sort of water issues.”

Bob Bratina responded with a quite different approach.

“This looks to me like somebody’s got four clunker cars they can’t afford to fix, so he goes out and buys another car,” the ward two councillor observed. “And the comment that I hear at the table today is well the province didn’t give us enough money to fix these roads. I’m not very good at this accounting stuff, but this seems fairly simple to me. We keep building infrastructure we can’t afford to fix.”

City finance chief Rob Rossini responded that the report showed “how much stuff we actually own” and suggested that reduction is one of the objectives of the province in requiring the reports.

“Part of the rationale for the province doing this is for municipalities to look at their assets as to which ones do we still need, which ones can we surplus and rationalize on a going forward basis,” Rossini noted. “So I think that’s part of the underlying thing that the province wants us to do.”

Bratina pointed to the recent decision of well-known investor Warren Buffet who “just bought a railway” because he’s calculating its value will climb over the long haul.

“He said that the US highway system infrastructure is so broken down they can’t possibly fix it all to the level of sustaining the need for transportation. So he picked railroads. We’re not alone in this.”

Collins countered with a brief history of federal and provincial government cuts to transfers to municipalities over the last 15 years.

“While it’s all well and good that the books look a little better at the other levels of government, it’s come at the expense of municipalities, and all municipalities over the last decade have lobbied both levels of government for additional infrastructure funds to try and get back some of those historic traditional transfer payments that we were accustomed to utilizing over several decades,” he stated, urging staff to make more lobbying for increased payments a top priority.

Whitehead closed out the discussion by recounting Prime Minister Harper’s speech last weekend to the meeting of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities where the federal leader warned the focus of his government is on deficit reduction, not more stimulus funding. He said the city should expect to continue to get federal gas tax monies, but not additional funds.

That grant totals nearly $32 million a year – two-thirds of which was allocated to roads with the remainder helping pay for city hall renovations.

Councillors were told in January that the city is adding an average of 50-70 kilometre lanes of roadway each year and that annual maintenance costs for each kilometre lane are roughly $10,000. That report estimated that the infrastructure spending deficit is about $150 million a year.

CATCH (Citizens at City Hall) updates use transcripts and/or public documents to highlight information about Hamilton civic affairs that is not generally available in the mass media. Detailed reports of City Hall meetings can be reviewed at www.hamiltoncatch.org. You can receive all CATCH free updates by sending an email to info@HamiltonCATCH.org.