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March
2003 Newsletter
Letters,
Letters and More Letters
Last
Thanksgiving weekend a coalition of groups opposed to the
expressway spent the weekend camping out in the Red Hill
Valley. What a great time we had, listening to owls in the
middle of the night, tramping pathways, and experiencing
wonderful camaraderie.
The
camp-out attracted a lot of media attention — some
generated inadvertently by clumsy police attempts to intimidate
us by monitoring our activities. That media attention in
turn provoked a renewed spate of letters-to-the editor of
the Spec and the local weeklies.
All
of this irritated Spec columnist Andrew Dreschel, who in
a November column said he was tired of the Red Hill Issue
monopolizing the Spec's letter columns. That closed down
the flow of letters on the issue for about six weeks. But
then the city's budget crisis claimed Hamilton's attention
and the expressway letters reappeared. And they haven't
gone away.
Here
is a modest sampling:
"…[S]hould
the Linc be connected to the QEW [by the expressway], my
family will be forced to move. It won't be worth the health
risk to live next to a major highway — particularly
with its increased truck traffic." Pamela Lindeman,
Hamilton
"It's
interesting that the city's decision-makers have no problem
in steamrollering ahead with the planned Red Hill Creek
Expressway, [a] decades-old plan, without having reviewed
the basic question of whether it's really needed."
John Hannah, Dundas
"It
would help in understanding the drive to complete the expressway
if a good case was made for the benefit it will bring to
Hamilton citizens, not to out-of-province trucking companies
and developers south of the city." William A. Kingham,
Ancaster
"[Councillor
Larry] Di Ianni states his 'bias'" but not his case.
Where is the argument for the benefits of the expressway
— not growth in general — but the expressway in
particular? Show me the money, councillor. Give me something
— anything — at any level of detail, except this
absurd blind faith. Red Hill is not a construction project;
it is cult." Shawn Selway, Hamilton
"My
name is Shawna and I am 12 years old. I don't think they
should build the Red Hill Expressway because there are many
animal species, birds and insects that will be affected.
I know that I am only 12, and nobody will care about what
I have to say, but with a little help, I know I can get
some attention." Shawna McInnes, Stoney Creek (Stoney
Creek News)
"The
city is short of money. Drop the Red Hill Creek Expressway.
It's a deep well that gets costlier by the minute. We can't
afford it. By all means clean up the creek and make the
valley into a people place." Steve Shwedyk, Hamilton
"I
was once one of them (an expressway supporter). But, as
more information has been released regarding the environment,
the cost and the benefits, I have changed my opinion."
Ian Stewart, Hamilton
"If
council wants to build the expressway, it should be up front
about its cost and put it on our tax bills as a special
levy. Then residents can decide whether they want to pay
for it or cancel it. That would be responsible government.
The current approach to funding the expressway isn't sweeping
dirt under the carpet — it's sweeping cockroaches."
Charles Maurer, Dundas
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