Dear Mayor and Councillors,

 I’m writing to you on behalf of People for a Pedestrian Friendly Dean Park.

As you may recall from the questionnaire I sent to you before the municipal election, we are a group of residents who want our neighbhourhood to be safer and more inviting for walking. 

We were very pleased with the responses we received and are looking forward to working with you to achieve our goals.

There are two items of some urgency. The first is planning for the new bicycle lanes on East Saanich Road.  If the road is widened to accommodate the new lanes, motorists will be tempted to travel even faster.  We know that wide roads encourage speeding. The current speed limit on East Saanich Road through the Dean Park neighbhourhood is 40 km/hour, but few drivers obey this limit. Before constructing the new bike lanes, we need to consider how to best accommodate cyclists without encouraging motorists to speed, which discourages people from walking, even on a sidewalk.

That brings me to my next point: with construction of the bike lanes imminent, now is the time to construct a sidewalk on the east side of East Saanich Road, along the 40 km/hour corridor and preferably as far as McTavish Road. With bus stops on both sides of East Saanich Road, it only makes sense to have sidewalks on both sides and sufficient crosswalks for people to cross safely.

I should also note that many people from Dean Park would love to be able to safely walk to Saanichton for exercise and to do errands.  This is now out of the question because East Saanich Road is too narrow and traffic moves too quickly.  With the new bike lanes, people will be tempted to use them for walking.  This could be dangerous for both cyclists and pedestrians.  Again, now is the time to accommodate pedestrians as well as cyclists.

 Clearly, the construction of bicycle lanes introduces other issues and opportunities, which need to be addressed. We wish to be included in the discussion and planning since the outcome will have a long-lasting impact on our neighbhourhood.

The second item of urgency is already on your radar – the possible sale of Dunsmuir Lodge.  Many residents of Dean Park walk and run on the trails through the forested land owned by the university. Since our neighbhourhood has no off-road trails, it is imperative that we not lose the Dunsmuir property trails.

One final note: while researching strategies for making communities pedestrian friendly, I learned of a seminar being presented next month that is on this very topic. Cullbridge Marketing and Communications has organized a ‘webinar’ (a seminar over the ‘Web’) and Transport Canada is paying the cost for up to 85 Canadian ‘connections’.

This webinar promises to provide highly useful information and assistance (see a brief description below). I urge you and staff to participate. If no spaces are available, I have already registered and would be happy to have my ‘connection’ made at North Saanich municipal hall. The webinar is Tues Feb 3 from 9 AM to 10 AM Pacific time.

Please let me know if you are interested in the webinar and how you would like to proceed to help us achieve our overall goals for Dean Park.

Yours truly,

Suzanne Morphet

Coordinator, People for a Pedestrian Friendly Dean Park

 

 Below is copied from http://webinars.cullbridge.com/course/category.php?id=3

 

Upcoming Case Study Webinar: The Walkability Roadshow

 

The “Walkability Roadshow” is both a model for how to engage communities of all sizes in promoting walking, and a program available to Canadian communities interested in doing so. It involves a questionnaire completed my municipal staff in related departments, a needs analysis workshop, subsequent homework, site visits by international experts, the development of local pedestrian action plans, and the securing of commitments from key decision makers.

Tuesday February 3 2009, 12 noon to 1:00 PM. Speaker: Jacky Kennedy, Director, Walking Programs, Green Communities Canada

Transport Canada’s Urban Transportation Showcase Program is paying for up to 85 Canadian connections to participate at no cost, and an additional 10 connections will be available for non-Canadian participants at $50 per connection. Any number of people can participate at the same location using the same computer and telephone connection.

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