PelhamToday received the following letter to the editor in response to Ridgeville drivers and wildlife.
As residents on Effingham Street for over 25 years, and writing our first letter to this outlet's editor in 30, we also have seen too much of the sorts of experiences recently described by Ms. Amanda Johnston to reporter Richard Hutton.
We have had cars racing down the street at night with police (as they too often seem to do when it comes to car illegality) refusing intervention. Despite our area's potential, it can be dangerous walking and cycling (whether recreationally or for commuting). Even immediately outside from our driveway carries some unwarranted acceptance of risk at times, even in daylight off-peak hours.
As much as the Town and at least the previous mayor has made effort at times to densify and attract visits to "downtown" Ridgeville (i.e. the corner of Canboro Road and Effingham Street) it can be dangerous arriving to, or departing from, the stores by a manner other than one that takes up a parking spot.
While some in our community can be laudably respectful, too many motorists drive too dangerously, nor even conform to the Ontario Highway Act. We already know of life-changing injuries and deaths of pedestrians in west Pelham, such as those reported by this media outlet and its predecessor, not limited to and including of an acquaintance [note: this is referring to a former classmate of mine].
During the previous mayor's tenure we applied to a Town "Love My Hood" initiative that could calm traffic on the street, as well as creating more community and linking allied farm businesses in the area. So we were very disappointed when staff at the time unfortunately rejected it, while refusing to even comply with their offer to provide any reasoning for their decision.
For all their faults, the previous mayor and the administration at the time did at least occasionally make some (largely more symbolic or piloting) traffic calming, vulnerable road user safety-creating, and place-making initiatives, including at the corner of Effingham Street and Canboro Road, before fading away or being ripped out.
Fortunately, (while some identify it could be improved) one of these initiatives, Summerfest, still continues to this day. As the Town's population has been growing and existing residents age we would have no problem with trials of new ones, especially around downtown Fonthill and Ridgeville, and are open to offering our suggestions should Town staff or councillors seek them.
Although it’s really a subject for another day, regarding the abundance of deer, as much as we love wildlife and share other residents' concerns that any hunting should be conducted safely (not that we recall there ever having been any injuries nor even property damage from the hunters), we support the Six Nations Haudenosaunee Short Hills deer hunt. We are extremely privileged to be settlers on this land and our society is obligated to abide by the treaties which our governance freely (that is, under no coercion towards its side) has signed. This being one of the shamefully few and little obligations the Crown and its representatives are honouring we must continue to defend the hunt's right to take place.
Better protecting and expanding wild areas and reintroducing large carnivores (not that we are holding our breath expecting the latter to happen any time soon) in the park and elsewhere as is occurring in Europe even around populated towns would also help reduce the deer population's evident stress on the park and their abundance on roads.
We care about this community and at least some of us plan to stay here until we die, so it is encouraging to see that in the Town's newest proposed Official Plan there seems to be some rhetoric towards these ends and to bring the Town's policies closer to sorely-needed more modernized, evidence-based ones. We applaud these efforts and encourage clearer language in the Plan towards these goals, language that affixes objectives and deliverables to them, with the Plan to be firmly supported and followed-through upon.
We will be writing on, voting for, and otherwise supporting as much.
The Bodimeade-Frayne Family
Ridgeville
