8 Friday, October 21, 2016 brooklintowncrier.com The Virtue of Civic Patience Our Councillor's Report by Rhonda Mulcahy North Ward Councillor, Town of Whitby • mulcahyr@whitby.ca One of the things I hear the most is "When is... going to happen?" It's a common question. What isn't common is the knowledge of why it takes so long for certain things to happen in municipal government. Traffic calming is a good example. We are flush with areas in Brooklin that need attention. But it's not as simple as installing a stop sign or painting a crosswalk. Before we get to any of that, we need to study the area. We need statistics about the vehicle and pedestrian traffic. We also need to know if these things are warranted or not. (i.e. installing a crosswalk without a signal where it's not warranted can result in a more dangerous situation where pedestrians assume traffic will stop for them.) I'm finding out that some of the areas I've thought dangerous are already under study. Councillor Derrick Gleed already had staff working on them and there's more problem areas as we grow and change. According to Town staff, we do traffic studies in May and October. That is when the truest numbers are present. We also cannot do assessments on specific roads as we need to see the impact on traffic once the 407 tolls come into play. Next year's budget is being created now. We already have many areas of our community accounted for in the budget for traffic calming measures. Anything new will be accounted for in the budget next year. Once a study is done, a report will go from staff to an Operations Meeting and then subsequently to Council for approval. Although a process that takes time, it's important to do things properly. We generally have meetings every Monday night. Over a three week period, we have Planning, then Operations, and finally Council where we address both the Planning and Operation items brought forward. Nothing moves as quickly as we would like it to, so in the meantime we all need to be aware of our driving habits. I frequently communicate with the DRPS but ultimately our safety comes down to our own human be- haviour. Do high school students really need drives to school every day? It's a question worth asking. Fewer cars on the road would lessen the congestion. Whatever happened to the Walking School Bus for elementary school children? In the meantime, I'm here to listen and share your concerns with staff. I'm happy to help you through the process. We all need patience, (myself included), but I believe we can enjoy a safe and pedestrian friendly community.