Citizens deserve to be listened to

RE: The Dundas laneway

Today I attended a meeting at Hamilton City Hall to support a hardworking group of Dundas citizens dedicated to keeping open the Laneway linking Sydenham Road to Alma Street.

It was a wonderful exercise in democracy. I was impressed with the Laneway Delegation.

Thirty presenters giving factual, sensible well-researched reasons for valuing public alleyways/laneways and for stopping their privatization. The reasons given for keeping laneways public included quality of life provided by walking space, community welfare and tradition.

This particular laneway is 160 years old. It all made perfect sense. Why should a homeowner extend his property by scooping up a sizeable chunk of public land. In this case a 160-year-old public pathway used by all for recreational purposes.

However, The presentations in support of public walkways fell on deaf ears. It was all to no avail. Arlene Vanderbeek, our councillor, did not support us. She trivialized our efforts by referring to the quirky nature of Dundas and its residents.

Moreover rather than take a brave progressive step and keep and protect public walkways Vanderbeek chose to continue the practise of selling public property to people who expropriate walkways for the token amount of $2.

This is the easier route to take for our municipality. Give away our walkways and foot paths rather than take the more progressive step of integrating them into the fabric of the town.

The latter step would take planning and effort — easier to hand them over to the adjacent land-grabber. Maureen Ash, Dundas