Thursday, June 11, 2009
Metro Transit / Green Halifax Dartmouth High School students protest bus terminal expansion into the Urban Wilderness Park
Orient the expanded Bridge Terminal away from the school, say students
Posted by Tim Bousquet on Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 3:09 PM
Several dozen Dartmouth High School students braved a downpour to hold a spirited protest against Metro Transit's plans for an expansion of the nearby Bridge Terminal. They carried signs calling for preservation of the Dartmouth Common, and chanted "Metro Transit, we need a better plan," and other slogans.
The students were well received by passing motorists, many of whom honked in support.
As proposed, the expanded terminal will stretch from its present location next to the Sportsplex, all the way up Nantucket Avenue to the crosswalk leading to the McDonald's. A rough sketch of the proposed new terminal is posted on the city's web site, but it doesn't show the high school. Students and teachers at the school, however, say the terminal will be just ten metres from the school.
Moreover, as proposed, the terminal expansion will consume about a third of the Dartmouth Wilderness Park, a forested area of the Dartmouth Common that has been left in a natural state.
[Full disclosure: I live in the neighbourhood and have a relative who teaches at the school.]
"We have limited green space left," says student Chelcy Jordan, one of the organizers of the protest. "And nobody wants to have an environment driven by the demands of technology and industrialization. This is a school environment; this is not a mall, or a parking space---this is meant for us to grow and learn and have fun while doing it and to be able to have a healthy environment."
"I want to save the green space for further use, by maybe reading a book in the space or something like that," explains student Jacob Larkin, another organizer. "Also, I don't want the bus station too close to our school---the noise pollution or air pollution could potentially harm people. And also I have security concerns."
Metro Transit has been working on the terminal expansion plans for at least a couple of years, and last year the legislature amended the Municipal Government Act to allow Dartmouth Common land to be used for the terminal. But the Dartmouth High community wasn't notified about the plan until last month, says Michael Cosgrove, a teacher.
Students in Cosgrove's Philosophy class initiated today's protest, which was sanctioned by the school administration.
Many of the protesting students are themselves regular bus users, and they acknowledge that the existing Bridge Terminal is too small and presents a safety hazard to users.
"But the amount of space they want to take up to have a new one, and where they want to have a new one, is not ideal to us at all," says jordan.
"We're trying to come up with options," says Larkin. "I met with a couple of architects and urban designers---we want to move it a bit farther from our school, and keep it under a hill, so the noise will be absorbed by the hill and the trees.
"I want to preserve as much of the trees as possible, because it also is a part of our heritage. The Nantucket whalers in the 1700s gave it to us, the people of Dartmouth, so we should cherish this land."
Students want the new terminal oriented perpendicular to Nantucket, and to run along the back side of the Sportsplex parking lot, instead of up the hill. Such an orientation would spare the bulk of the Wilderness Park and provide a good distance between the terminal and school.
Metro Transit has yet to respond to a call for comment.
Survey Asks
Do you agree with Halifax's school board cutting 152 teachers?
Comments (17)
Showing 1-17 of 17
Why wouldn't Metro Transit want to integrate the terminal with the exsisting Ferry Terminal in Downtown Dartmouth?
To have two major transit terminals split up by over a kilometre - that both service the exact same clientele - makes absolutely no sense to me.
Then they wouldn't have to bulldoze trees and could instead do something about the derelict industrial lands of the downtown Dartmouth waterfront at the same time as providing a multi-faceted transit hub which Dartmouth desperately needs - place it on that block between Ochterloney and North Street for example - or further down near Park Ave...
Then again, Metro Transit seems to quite often pull these "ideas" out of thin air (or, more often, the deep dark abcesses of their asses, whichever comes first I suppose).
Good on the kids - though they should get used to a life of heartbreak if they think they can change anything about this depressing regressive backwater of a town called Halifax.
like
dislike
The wildness park it's not about the people, it's about preserving green spaces in our urban areas.
What's wrong with people these days ? Can't they walk a couple steps to switch buses ? I agree it's dangerous if they have to walk in front of buses, but there is plenty of room to reconfig the existing bus terminal without going to the extent as sketched by the city.
Find me the last reported incident of someone getting robbed in the Dartmouth Wilderness Park! Something that made the news. I challenge your research skills.
As far as drugs go, imagine if we bulldozed every place people smoked drugs. With that logic, New York ought to bulldoze Central Park.
Tim, thanks for posting that ...I feel some are so paranoid about youth they think there is a grand conspiracy against all non-youth and that they are all about crime and fires......
There was a fire in my hood a few weeks back and the youth got blamed though no one seen a dang thing....the building was an eye sore and hazard for many years... and just so happen to burn down when the owner was in the hospital.....
Youth are fast to be blamed for anything ....they are easy targets I say.... I went to DHS and had no issue there either....
Until we stop seeing youth as thugs we will not be able to see they bring a POV to the table worthy of note.
Just like this story and the school recruiting one.....
I live very close to the area, and I'm pretty ambivalent on the bus terminal expansion. Expansion is necessary, but the kids raise valid objections to the design and siting, imo.
FWIW, I walk through the woods most every day, and while sometimes kids are hanging out smoking pot, they've always been cordial and nice enough. Just the fact of a kid smoking pot doesn't turn him into a hazard to anyone.
Voice, it could be the way I write...I was speaking of my own experiences of the downtown ones....the ones at Portland are fine ..my point is to be complimentary and use that green space deliberately for the new terminal.....HOWEVER..in a way that promotes green living and open public use...I want them to do it because then they will do its upkeep better than it is now.....It is a perfect place ..
I am all for using green spaces that max our use and benefits... people spend an incredible amount of time daily waiting for connects so why not make a healing moment too?
I am all for holistic-enviro design.....
You do know they plan on building it just like the Portland Hills terminal right? A nice heated/air conditioned building with ample sitting space outside.
Those wind tunnels currently in use at the Sportsplex (and at the DSC before that) will not be used in the new development. Metro Transit has already said the new terminal won't need the entire 6 acres HRM has offered so I'd say a lot of green is going to remain in place.
I think it would....If you design the bus stops as discussed behind the Sportsplex and have the Park open and away then people would come over just as they need the buses..I would prefer to wait in the green than those ugly steel/glass standing units they have now....
People stand between the buses now on that cement platform and it is dirty and uncomfy at any time of the day especially if you are a non-smoker.....
As it is now I will sit on the green by the bank and wait for my bus so just meaning to move that availability/choice to the park where people will step on the pavement to get a bus rather than standing around though they could have that option I guess. I think they could have some buses as they are now and other buses perpendicular to Nantucket and that should reduce the peds walking around.
I remember getting the bus when it was over at the Shopping Mall and that was chaotic and uncomfy but it worked....every one entered on one side and they can do that in the design I am suggesting.....so folks not coming from all directions..
I hope they let folks vote on or suggest a design.... but keep the Park...
McGayle: The propose layout of the terminal is designed to minimize the number of people crossing the active bus lanes to board buses. Having benches in the trees means the waiting area "hub" design would not sufficiently reduce the number of pedestrians walking around the bus lanes.
The layout keeps people on the platform while boarding or transfering between buses, it will cut at least 50% of potential "walking in front of bus" incidents since you will not longer need to walk in the bus lanes when getting off a #1 and transfering to a #59 like at the current terminal.
That "wilderness park" is where the Dartmouth High kiddies go to smoke grass and screw during the daytime, and where the criminal element hangs out after dark.
Bulldoze the damn thing. This is a city, not a forest.
If the new bus terminal was built in conjunction with the strip-mall across the street from the Sportsplex, commuters could shop there while they wait...
... or walk over to the Urban Wilderness Park and see that it's NOT the vicious drug den described by some of these posts. Now that spring is here, it's a lush green place to walk through, complete with daffodils.
That strip-mall is pretty grim, though -- it needs a make-over. The businesses there could benefit from more customers (commuters!).
The park behind the school is NOT drug infested. What an over simplification of the issue. The next logical move is to pave over every park where drugs are used. Should we get rid of the Halifax Commons, or Point Pleasant Park because people smoke weed there too?
As far as violence goes, I've never heard the phrase violence infested. But if there were such a term I expect it could apply to homes, schools, bars, parks and many other places. If we extend the argument, we ought to bulldoze any place we find violence. The argument that the park is the cause of drug use and violence is weak.
People smoke drugs everywhere. Any park in any city can be dangerous on any night.
I went to DHS in the 80's and yes drugs were sold at that time and yes there were issues with that Park...I agree with shiva that is a policing issue b/c they have known about it for decades.....again open it up and make it a public park where commuters can enjoy some 'green' before heading home or to work.....it may be the only chance they get and ADD A PUBLIC WASHROOM TOO PLEASE!!!!!
...are we talking about the drug infested / violence infested tree lot behind the Sportsplex? you're right, a bus terminal would 'ruin' all of that.
As a resident of the area I support these students 100%. We have to protect green space and common land in the area for ourselves and for the future. Once it's gone it's gone for good. I hear the drug argument a lot, but this is a policing problem, not an urban design problem. Drug users will move elsewhere - perhaps to the mainland Common - then what, you want to trash that too? I'm unimpressed by how little public consultation has taken place on this so far.
I hope the students keep the pressure on for the next several months.
The school, and staff knew all about the planned terminal after the Principal and area residents went to the April 4 meeting at Hawthorne school. Drawings were available then and clearly showed where the planned terminal was to be placed. HRM just wants to continue the tradition of Halifax & Dartmouth using Commons space as a cheap i.e. free source of land.
Our new Premier can put a stop to this ASAP by ordering a provincial environmental assessment.
Charles the Great - the drug problem is the two gangs operating inside Dartmouth High, just as in other High schools according to teachers I talk to. Teachers in Metro know all about the issue of drugs in schools and no go areas.
I agree with the students: the plan should run perpendicular to Nantucket and behind the Sportsplex.....we actually have contention on this? Leave the green space but open it up to be more user friendly and available....it needs a trim for sure but leave it alone Metro T!!!!
Many folks have to wait a long time for connects and it would be great to make the Park part of this project so like me, others can go sit on the grass, under a tree, on benches, picnick tables to wait for their buses...
So rather than making this a competition of this or that how about .... a compromise........of both as a compliment to each other....
yes I know..I should be mayor... ;)
| ||||||
|
Guides
- Home |
- Dating |
- Bitch |
- News |
- Music |
- Movies |
- Dining |
- Arts |
- Opinion |
-
Best Of
| - Halifax Free Classifieds |
- Jobs |
- Housing |
- For Sale |
- Classes |
- Bulletin Board |
- Health, Beauty |
- Services |
- Real Estate |
- Wanted
- About Us |
- Our Staff |
- Contact Us |
- Advertise |
- Work With Us |
- Send us a Tip |
- Privacy Policy |
- Comments Policy |
-
RSS Feeds
|
- Archives
