From My Bottom Step

Thanks for Helping!

What can I say about The Londoner that won’t sound self-serving? I mean, they’ve been so accomodating to me!

During the last municipal election campaign when other media outlets were ignoring the way that I couldn’t participate, Ben Benedict wrote an article about it. They’ve published many of the letters that I’ve sent to them. Phil has given me permission to republish a number of their articles on … Continue Reading

What’s it going to take …

… before pedestrians can cross Commissioners Road E. without risking their lives?

From: Gregory Fowler
To: Thomas O’Brien
Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2008 1:52:03 PM
Subject: 2008/09/14 Complaint

Sgt. O’Brien:

On Sunday 2008/09/14 I left the Tim Horton coffee shop which is located at Adelaide/Commissioners at approx. 12:40 pm. Waiting until there was no eastbound traffic on the south … Continue Reading

TAC Appointment

Now that the minutes of the 2008/06/16 ETC meeting have been published on the city website, I’m pleased to be able to announce here that I’ve been appointed to the city’s Transportation Advisory Committee as a pedestrian representative.
No word yet from the Community & Protective Services Committee about whether or not my application for membership on CSCP will be approved.
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Should London Be Sued?

Are you a woman who’s ever been raped? Are you somebody who has ever been otherwise physically assaulted? Are you elderly and afraid to walk the streets past dusk? Are you a parent who worries about the safety of your children after they leave your house? If so, this post is for you…
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Closed Meetings at City Hall

“The Municipal Council of the Corporation of the City of London has selected the Ombudsman of Ontario as the closed meeting investigator pursuant to section 239.1(b) of the Municipal Act, 2001, as amended. Requests for an investigation of whether the municipality or local board has complied with section 239 of the Municipal Act, 2001, as amended or a procedure by-law … Continue Reading

Amending London’s Fence By-law

According to the ETC agenda (which as usual wasn’t available on the city website until yesterday), senior city administrators are proposing changes to London’s existing fence by-law.
As London’s most prominent pedestrian rights/safety advocate, it bothers me considerably that I have to find out about something like this at the last minute, and only because of my own personal due diligence. For the moment, I’ll simply … Continue Reading

City Hall Committees – 2008/04/07

Here’s my blow-by-blow description of what’s happening in this week’s committee meetings at City Hall…

04:00
ETC(01)
3rd Report of the Trees and Forests Advisory Committee

(post … Continue Reading

Saying ‘No’ to Montreal Parking Spots

Private automobile use is said to be outpacing Montreal’s population … Continue Reading

Pedestrian Stats Noticeably Absent

Q: How often have pedestrians been struck by hit/run drivers in London ?A: At least twice within the past week.
Don’t blink or you’ll miss it… a brief mention in today’s paper (”Police seek hit and run info”; London Free Press; 2007/11/28) about “a girl” who sustained “minor” injuries last Wednesday evening after she was “knocked down by a dark-coloured station wagon” which then left the scene. And of another female who was “thrown onto the hood” of “a four-door, white Honda Civic” on Saturday afternoon. In both cases, the operators of the automobiles left without identifying themselves. Presumably that means that they left before police arrived.
    Appended 2007/11/30 @ 21:00I just revisited the LPS website and … quelle surprise! … there’s now a “Media Releases” link on the main page pointing to a brand new page (which isn’t dated) all about these recent vehicle/pedestrian incidents and the driver’s “legal obligation” to identify themself before leaving the scene. It seems I may have caught somebody’s attention As short on information as the newspaper article may be, it puts the London Police Services website to shame. Because there’s no mention of these incidents at all on it’s “Media Releases” page. Or on it’s “Wanted” page. Or on it’s “FYI” page. In fact, when I typed “pedestrian” into the search facility on the LPS website, I got a sum total of only 8 articles. One of those (2006/03/23 LPS Board Minutes) refers to “statistical information on Pedestrian Safety” that had been presented by Sgt. Tom O’Brien, but does not provide those stats.
So, how often do incidents involving automobiles and pedestrians happen in London? If we can’t get that information from the police website, perhaps we can get it from our elected officials.
Yeah, right ;(
I’ve been fighting for such disclosure for many years.Plod on, dear reader…
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NDP Pay Pledge

Kerry Gillespie correctly writes that “The NDP have long cried foul over the wage hike Liberal and Progressive Conservatives MPPs voted for just before Christmas” (”Hampton vows $10 wage, MPP pay cut”; Toronto Star; 2007/09/13). He tells us that Hampton has “vowed” to “immediately” raise the minimum wage to $10 “if elected” and then “index it to inflation.”
To … Continue Reading