Beware Sydney River

BEWARE THE WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING

I have to make this statement so it is clear that I am not harassing our elected officials: The following is political commentary related to community damaging policies that need to be reversed for the betterment of "all CBRM". 

Also CBRM Recreation did not create the mess we have in District 9/10 and there's been lots good Active Transportation proponents in CBRM who deserve kudos irrespective of what the elected officials do. No disrespect intended towards any of these people or organizations here.

A few bits of information before we get into the political sludge:

Active Transportation is a clear and global term. CBRM defines it well here: Active transportation refers to any form of human-powered transportation - walking, cycling, wheeling, in-line skating, skateboarding, skiing or paddling. Specifically, Active Transportation means "NO GAS POWERED MOTORS" 

Multi-Use Trail (or Shared-Used or Mixed-Use) does not mean motorized vehicles are permitted. See here: What CBRM Council May Tell You....

There is a worldwide trend towards Active Transportation and Canada is onboard with a commitment of $400Million. See Feds unveil first-ever dedicated fund for active transportation 

So why the warning to Sydney River?

Okay, the residents of district 9/10 were "screwed over"  (subjective but real feeling) with talk and promises of "Active Transportation". For more than 10 years local politicians and Active Transportation proponents spoke publicly only about Active Transportation on the rail-bed running through District 9/10. They spent money from the Active Transportation budget towards the project only to pull the rug from under us at the last moment, and built an ATV Trail, instead of the promised Active Transportation trail. Two of the main ATV trail supporters are still in office and are mentioned in this CB Post article (Note the use of "Multi-use pathway"), so beware! There is a sense of Déjà vu here in this week's article in the Cape Breton Post on Active Transportation: Cycling advocate pushes for Sydney River multi-use trail in CBRM active transportation plans where they talk about building an Active Transportation trail linking Sydney River to downtown Sydney. The reason for this feeling of Déjà vu is because of the past Active Transportation debacle that has started a battle in District 9/10 which is discussed here: Here We Go Again

Another indication of the contamination of our Active Transportation strategy was in a recent survey issued by CBRM where they included questions about ATV use (See Here: Tainted Survey) . CBRM was asked to remove these questions from the survey but they refused. Here we see, yet again in 2021,  "Active Transportation" being used for budget spend justification ($200,000) but yet used to collect information for ATV groups. 

The real problem here is who demanded those questions be included and why. If CBRM were to publish their "vision" for Active Transportation in CBRM it would likely be centered around these words from their own website "health, happiness, reduced travel costs and the satisfaction that their travel produces almost no pollution, benefiting the environment.". All decisions and work done for Active Transportation should always line up with "the vision". Including questions in an Active Transportation survey about Off-Highway Vehicles (OHV) goes against such a vision and should not have been included. It demonstrates a lack of commitment and can result in a lack of trust in the ability to fulfill the vision. Just look at District 9/10.

The tender for the work done by Fathom Studios was very clear that it was for Active Transportation not ATV use (anti-active transportation). So either they failed to meet the objectives of the tender or someone at City Hall imposed their own agenda on them.   

This reminds me of the agreement CBRM ratified in council (2019) with Public Works Canada (PSPC) that was explicitly for Active Transportation but Council went ahead with an ATV Trail (anti-active transportation) instead. What!?!?

We must also remember that taxpayers already paid a consultant to do a survey under the guise of Active Transportation and the residents of District 9/10 said "NO" to motorized vehicles on the rail-bed trail. This time they reworded the question to favor ATV groups and navigate around the truth. So again I say beware Sydney River, transparency is not a rule in this game. You need to dig for the truth. 

Lessons learned:

  • Residents of CBRM need to get the elected officials and Active Transportation proponents to say these words out loud and publicly: "THERE WILL BE NO MOTORS PERMITTED ON THIS TRAIL, EVER". This is the basis of Active Transportation and if they can't say it, there is something radically wrong. This should be easy.
  • Funding for Active Transportation (put in a contract) needs to be secured so that elected officials have no way to "screw over" (subjective but real feeling) the residents of Sydney River like they did in District 9/10.
  • Make sure that Marconi Trail Blazers or Isle Royale ATV Club do not insert themselves into this project like they did on the CBRM Active Transportation trail project in District 9/10. The reason I say this is just logical because these groups are anti-Active Transportation by definition and have no place on these projects except to derail them (pun intended). This will be a big red flag if they are involved in any way.

What you don't want in Sydney River:

Relating to the ATV Trail in district 9/10 we are seeing the following anti-social effects of running an ATV trail through a residential area:

  • Increase in crime (logged police calls)
  • Harassment and threats
  • Vandalism
  • Community conflict and acrimony. 
  • Destruction of the environment and private property along the ATV trail
  • Disturbance of ecological systems along the ATV trail
  • Discouragement of Active Transportation participation  (back to vision)
  • Loss of property value along the ATV trail
  • Infringement on the right to enjoyment of property for residents along the trail

Our beautiful seaside community has taken a beating and is disgusting at times when loud off-road vehicles are blasting through our backyards and on our public streets and sidewalks, day & night. 

 

A private group free of bullying and full of information:  Residential Areas - ATVs (OHVs) 

Remember this: ATV DOES NOT equal AT (Active transportation)...The "V" makes all the difference.

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