Letters to the Editor – September
More Glebe smokers?
Editor, Glebe Report
Is it my eyes, or every time I walk along Bank Street do I see one, two, three or more people smoking cigarettes (slim and elegant looking)? Sitting on a bench recently I noticed the person beside me smoking. For the first time in decades, I’ve had smoke in my eyes.
Then of course the butt was tossed on the sidewalk.
Solutions anyone?
Terry Cheney
Biking a win-win-win
Editor, Glebe Report
Re: “Queen Elizabeth Drive frustrations,” Glebe Report, August 2023
L.J. Cabri (letter to the editor, August 2023) is totally wrong. We need to encourage more active transportation to work, school, church, store, friends. Giving us a fume-free and a wide thoroughfare for families and commuters to travel safely is best. If Mr or Ms Cabri worries about gas consumption and pollution, the best thing s/he could do is to bike, skate or walk to the NAC. Recycle your car, Mr/Ms Cabri! Buy a bike and stop warming the planet. Aren’t the wildfires, flooding and annual 100-year storms enough of a message?
By the way, biking and bike parking is healthier and more economical and faster downtown and in the Glebe. It’s a win-win-win for you and the environment.
Tom Trottier
Parking pain
Editor, Glebe Report
Re: “’They paved paradise, put up a parking lot!’” Glebe Report, August 2023
What a disappointing discrepancy between the title and the content of this article!
I hoped that it would be about the eyesore parking lots along Bank in the Glebe, like the one in front of Kettleman’s. Maybe even why we have street parking on Bank and how it makes it unsafe for both pedestrians and bicyclists. Maybe we could’ve been discussing getting rid of some parking to make room for a protected bike lane on Bank. Wouldn’t that be nice!
But no, the amount of space we give to cars is never enough, and it is always a bad thing when bikes get a tad bit of their own space, even for a limited time.
The one thing I wholeheartedly agree with in this article was closing Colonel By to cars. Indeed, that would be nice and would free up more space for pedestrian traffic along the canal trail.
The article’s photos were misleading as well. The day after I read this article, I snapped a photo of Carling Avenue empty as far as the eye can see. Shall I use that photo to argue Carling should be closed to cars because obviously it wasn’t being used – during my 7:30 a.m. Sunday bike ride? Of course, this photo can also be used to argue for a protected bike lane on Carling because it is a ridiculously large road.
Maybe the article title can be reused later for a review of Henry Grabar’s book Paved Paradise; How Parking Explains the World.
Seyda Ipek
Councillor’s full disclosure
Editor, Glebe Report
Re “Disappointment all round,” Letter to Shawn Menard by Robert Benoit, Glebe Report, August 2023
I was puzzled to read a letter in the August 18 issue of the Glebe Report complaining about a lack of information coming from Councillor Shawn Menard.
Even though I was not one of his supporters when he first ran for office, I have since been very impressed by his sharing of information through his Capital Ward Bulletin.
The detailed information and the illustrations of plans and proposals and the particulars of meetings on many different issues are really useful. I especially appreciate the links to documents and discussions that would be too long to include in the body of a newsletter.
If you are not receiving his regular emails (which you can sign up for on the website), you can access the same information on the website itself, www.shawnmenard.ca, or by reading his column in your community newspaper, although these columns are necessarily abbreviated. It would be too expensive to regularly send these newsletters as a mailout to all the homes throughout the ward.
In the many decades that I have followed politics avidly, I have never experienced such a complete sharing of constructive information with the public.
Elaine Marlin
The darkened streets of the Glebe
Editor, Glebe Report
Who is in charge of streetlights in the Glebe? More and more burned-out lights make walking impossible!
Queen Elizabeth Driveway and the Colonel By are too dark after sunset for the stroll we used to enjoy. As our municipal taxes increase, our municipal services decrease!
Please make the Glebe great again!
Fern Champigny
