Rapid thoughts on rapid transit

The proposal for light rail transit in Kitchener-Waterloo is the first local issue I can remember that has actually divided residents into significant camps - perhaps the first in my lifetime. James Bow is generally in favour of the plan, while Yappa Ding Ding is not. Even more alarmist, a recent guest piece in The Record suggested that the trains will somehow destroy the annual Oktoberfest parade, aka Paul Buttinger's chance to get interviewed on national television.

Where do I stand in the debate? Decidedly against LRT, and it's not because of the $700-million price tag - I'd be against it if some magic corporation offered to fund the construction and then turn the whole thing over to the city.

First of all, I just cannot wrap my head around the argument that LRT will somehow reinvigorate Kitchener's downtown - particularly considering it seems to be used in conjunction with the "it'll be great for people commuting to Toronto!" argument. If most of the people using LRT are just passing through downtown on their way to and from work, how will that help downtown?

And although it's a little extreme to suggest that the Oktoberfest parade will be destroyed, Peter Gay - the author of that piece - does seem to stumble sideways into a decent point. Cars aren't going to be able to make a whole lot of left turns off of King Street if this goes through - and are the people who already avoid downtown whenever possible suddenly going to be drawn back by the allure of having an even *more* difficult time getting where they want to go? I suspect not.

This is all, of course, assuming that downtown revitalization is a good thing. It's probably possible for a community to grow its reputation with a decrepit downtown - or none whatsoever - but my experiences in Brantford the last few years would lead me to assume the opposite. The downtown was crappy, so everybody avoided the city (unless offered really cheap land, or wanting a night at the casino). Now that the city has put some work into improving the downtown core, demolishing the worst buildings and nudging respectable institutions into the others, the city's reputation and economy are finally on the upswing.

As for the part about it being great for people commuting to the Toronto area...do we really want that? I mean, this is admittedly a matter of personal preference more than anything, but do we want Kitchener-Waterloo to be thought of as a bedroom community of Toronto? Do we want Oktoberfest, the Perimeter Institute, RIM, et al. to be thought of as part of the Toronto bubble? I don't.

Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, of course, and if the majority of K-W residents want to go ahead with LRT in the face of all the arguments against (my hunch is that they simply think it's an eventuality, so why bother to fight it?), I'll begrudgingly accept their decision. But I do like the idea of delaying the proposal long enough that it can be a ballot question next fall. It'd be nice to have an election that comes down to something other than "I recognize this guy's name".

--Ryan