02-21-2017, 02:50 PM
(02-21-2017, 02:12 PM)MidTowner Wrote: If residents shouldn't have control over their city, who should?
Your second point makes sense to me. But it's not that they are able to "mobilize effective resistance" to development that should matter: what should be important is if they want it or not. If Preston (or anything other potential station) is being included mostly for redevelopment purposes, and the residents don't want redevelopment, why force it on them? Especially if there are other station areas where residents and landowners are interested in redevelopment opportunities.
That's the point. If Preston wants to have intensification around its core, and is willing to welcome people in non-two-storey buildings, then it can make sense. If they aren't willing to accept intensification, then LRT should not be stopping there. Residents should be a part of the process of city-building, but I truly believe that if you want to live in a core area, and have access to high quality core services, the tradeoff you must accept some form of is densification and intensification of the area. It's why I generally do not like the reactions which come out of most urban neighbourhoods in Waterloo and Kitchener. Similarly, if the Galt reaction to the Gaslight district, which has been an opposition to density, continues within Galt, you start to lose the reason for heading into Cambridge at all.