The new President of the NWEP makes some excellent points in the NewsLeader article on the Master Transportation Plan. Whether you agree or not, you might want to drop by the Open house at City Hall tonight.
From the article:
One group that plans to participate every step of the way is the New Westminster Environmental Partners. When it outlined its priorities at its first board meeting of the year the transportation plan was at the top, ahead of trash, the threat of an incinerator being built in the city and recycling.
“This is far and away the most important,” said newly elected president Reena Meijer-Drees.
NWEP has long promoted a transportation hierarchy that starts with pedestrians at the top followed by cyclists, rapid transit, bus services, goods movement and, finally, motor vehicles. Meijer-Drees said it will be difficult ensuring that order isn’t flipped around.
“It’s always hard to put private motor vehicles last. It’s going against 30 years of transportation planning. It’s not an easy thing. The city says it, the city of Vancouver says it has this hierarchy, [but] it’s rather difficult to put in practice. We would love to see it happen,” said Meijer-Drees. “Personally, it’s my firm conviction we’re going to see some fairly major changes in how we’re going to set up our city in the next 30 years.”
Read the entire story here: First step in New Westminster’s Transportation Master Plan launches Thursday
