In 2016, the city blithely believed infrastructure upgrades to a 380-metre residential roadway in Frame Lake South would simply "provide an opportune time to improve the road layout of Calder Crescent."
We agree. Unlike almost every other street in the neighbourhood, it was built with no sidewalk.
Upgrades to the water and sewer infrastructure were to take place in 2017 – improving services and safety for people living on the quiet street comprised of about 40 households, including two day-homes – with the road surface being attended to this year.
"With the installation of curbs, gutters, possibly a sidewalk and asphalt," stated city information, which added, "Any impacted lawns will be reinstated when roadwork is complete."
Residents had been presented with four options for the new roadway's configuration:
Option 1: Two-way traffic with a sidewalk and parking on one side.
Option 2: One-way traffic with sidewalk on one side and parking on both sides.
Option 3: Two-way traffic, no sidewalk and parking on both sides – road remains “as-is”
Option 4: Two-way traffic with sidewalk on one side and parking on both sides, includes use of city right-of-way (which would mean using frontage on most properties, potentially affecting fences, retaining walls and the slope of driveways.)
This past March, council approved Option 3 – two-way traffic with parking on both sides but no sidewalk. The availability of parking was a key factor for many who were in favour of this option.
During public consultations, it was apparent a majority of residents favoured this plan even though there are children and seniors living on the street who would be better protected from traffic on the curving road by installing a sidewalk.
A petition was subsequently launched by a smaller group of residents on the crescent who favoured a sidewalk, pointing out that many children use the route to walk to school. NJ Macpherson School is right next door.
Presented with the petition, council ultimately made a better decision at the May 28 meeting to direct administration to change the scope of the Calder Crescent project to one way traffic with a sidewalk on one side and parking on both sides. But construction season was coming fast and city staff had to scramble to find money to pay for an unbudgeted sidewalk.
While any community wants their civic leaders to listen to their concerns, strong leadership and effective decision-making is the ultimate hallmark of a healthy group of elected officials.
That being the case, our current council is on its last legs, both figuratively and literally, with the October municipal election approaching fast.
Imagine the sad spectacle that occurred in council chambers on July 23, when councillors eventually voted to re-implement their original decision – to cheers and applause from residents, who again had packed the public galley for this issue.
During proceedings that day, people opposed to council's flip-flop to install a one-way street with a sidewalk heckled councillors from the gallery with antagonistic comments and insults, reported Yellowknifer.
"Why don't you listen to the taxpayers?" shouted one resident who, for months, vocally opposed the sidewalk.
Mayor Mark Heyck pleaded for the woman to stop yelling from the gallery.
"It is not the job of elected officials to design roadways. We pay engineers and planners good money to do that," said Heyck. "It's been two months since this motion passed, and we're still here sitting and talking about it with considerable extra expense.
"It's absolute folly in my mind, we're just throwing around options now and that's not how legislative
decisions should be made."
It's absolute folly in Yellowknifer's view as well.
No decision would ever please everyone. It's a small, rather cramped crescent. Parking is needed but a sidewalk is clearly something to be expected in 2018. Option 2 was a reasonable compromise.
Imagine the hue and outcry that will come now should a child be injured or worse by a motorist while walking on the street.
Council made a decision to enhance public safety and should have stood strong. It didn't.
The July 23 flip-flop, alas, showed councillors doing what was best to get angry residents off their backs, not what was best for citizens.