Matter deferred

At seven months pregnant, Liane Boyer McLean says she’s disappointed she had to wait hours to learn the active transportation corridor would be pushed back another week.

McLean attended the meeting Monday night in order to show support for the proposed corridor along Bay Street. She and more than 15 others waited hours as council went through other business. It wasn’t until after 10 p.m. that council brought up the item.
Instead of discussing the item, the majority of council voted to defer the matter by another week.

McLean, who cancelled her flight to Toronto so she could attend the meeting, wasn’t pleased to hear that news.

“We rebooked my flight for tomorrow so I could be at this meeting,” she said. “Plus finding childcare for my two-year-old-daughter plus I’m seven months pregnant so staying up this late is a bit tough. I don’t know who is at fault. I thought about leaving several times tonight because it is a little late for me. To go through all this again is hard.”

McLean believes the route that would make a portion of Bay Street into an active living corridor would be a real benefit to the city. Although she lives in the area, she said she’s supporting it because it would be best for the community.

After deferring the matter to next week, a few councillors offered apologies to those who waited.

McLean said she appreciated that.

At-Large Coun. Rebecca Johnson was the first to apologies. She said she was upset that people waited hours only to be told to come back next week.

“I’m totally embarrassed that this is what we’re doing as a council,” she said.

The motion to defer was brought up by Mayor Keith Hobbs who said he received his package on the active transportation corridor only a few hours ago. He said he needed time to properly go over the more than 30-page document and felt council should have more time to digest it.

McIntyre Coun. Trevor Giertuga voiced his frustration with administration for not providing the material sooner.

“We’ve asked administration time and time again not to plop this on our desks the night of,” he said. “I didn’t want to make a decision without actually reading it. We’ve asked for this not to happen before.”

Red River Coun. Brian McKinnon agreed that it was important that council took time to look over the proposal carefully. He said he has a few amendments that include at least one more four-way stop on Bay Street and to cut the bike lane from Balsam Street to Bay Street in half.

He added that he plans to speak with the people who attended the meeting to make sure they understood what happened.

“I’m sure they will be here next Monday,” he said.