Traffic Meeting April 5th

As promised, we continue to work through the community's concerns related to traffic safety with the city, police and Josh's office.  For those residents who would like to participate, our next meeting with all parties will be held at 9am Wednesday April 5th at 188 Cottingham Street.  We expect to hear full updates from the city on the items raised for further investigation (which you can see featured in earlier installments of this blog).  

 

 

RARA Winter Newsletter 2016 & Lane Name Voting

The winter newsletter went out to the mailing list this past Sunday night.  If you didn't catch it you can see the archived version here: http://eepurl.com/cqEGbf

If you are not on the mailing list you can sign up here: http://www.rathnellyrepublic.com/rara/

Of note -- the Lane Names voting is very close... like 50/50 close!  If you haven't voted yet you can do so here: http://www.rathnellyrepublic.com/lane-names/

 

 

 

Poplar Plains Cres Petition: Dangerous Vehicular Traffic and Parking

To:  All Poplar Plains Crescent Residents

Subject:  Dangerous Vehicular Traffic and Parking

Introduction

  • Vehicular traffic and parking trends on Poplar Plains Crescent are making our street unsafe and dangerous to our health. There seems to be no let down. Here are the contributing factors that you should be aware of:
  • Rush Hour Traffic – we see frustrated drivers cut off Avenue Rd looking for a faster way – often they are whipping off Avenue Rd at high speeds as Poplar Plains Road has become the proxy for Avenue Rd when it’s congested.
  •  Trade vehicles and other parking violators making road hard to navigate and reducing visibility & increasing congestion. The 3 hour parking limit on city streets is not being enforced.  Rathnelly is now piloting a 1 hour parking limit to reduce the number of out of the neighbourhood parkers.
  • Lack of side walk – especially from Rathnelly to Poplar Plains Rd – making walking and crossing already dangerous.  One girl was recently run over by a vehicle sending her to hospital for extensive x-rays.
  • Poor Signage – new drivers to the area are at risk of not knowing our streets are one way or what the speed limit is.
  • Little enforcement by police has resulted in many violations such as speeding, not stopping, side walk driving, wrong way driving, and high speed reverse driving.

What is RARA Going to Do?

RARA is working towards a productive multiparty solution with the City, Province & Toronto Police Services to help on the immediate enforcement and a plan to change the vehicular and parking patterns to improve our neighbourhood. To be comprehensive and convincing with City officials RARA is seeking input from all residents. 

What is Requested of You?

We need to sign this petition and provide any comments and suggestions for improvements. This information will be sent to RARA to support its work with the City.

Please print, sign the petition, and deliver it to your street rep (or send directly to Josh Matlow's office).

Download the petition here

RARA Reps will Be trick-or-treating this year

With a number of important initiatives co-inciding with the 50th anniversary of Rathnelly Day and the 150 anniversary of Canada your RARA rep will be knocking on doors on Halloween night along with the kids in the community.  This will be an opportunity to meet the person representing you, gain access to some key updates, an invitation to our winter solstice party, and pre-populated letters to our Rail Safety campaign.  We hope to see many of you on the 31st, but if for some reason you are not home or miss the rep at the door, please feel free to reach out to them at any time.  Learn more about who the RARA rep for your street is here.

If you can't wait until Halloween, here are a couple of links to the key updates:

 

 

Replacing the Trees in Robertson Davies Park

At the beginning of September, HydroOne removed several old growth trees in Robertson Davies Park. Following community outcry, HydroOne has agreed to take steps to remedy the situation. On September 28, they hosted a community consultation and presented four options for new landscaping. You can review the options here. Potential solutions include replanting a row of trees, installing a green wall along the rail line and adding new trees throughout the park, adding shrubs along the rail line together with new trees throughout the park, and installing a trellis and planting large evergreens and shrubs along the rail line. 

In addition to seeking community input on what should be done to replace the trees that were cut down, HydroOne is also accepting broader feedback pertaining to the landscaping in the park. Some of our neighbours have suggested, for example, that the cement path is crumbling and needs to be repaves and that an accessible path to Avenue Road needs to be added. 

HydroOne circulated the following questions for feedback at the September 28 meeting:

  1. Which elements of the landscaping plans that were presented did you like?
  2. Which elements of the landscaping plans that were presented did you not like?
  3. Is there something you would describe as a "must see" for the park that you would like included in the plans?
  4. Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?

For further information or to weigh in, send an email to community.relations@hydroone.com or call 416-345-6799.