2 Friday, May 31, 2024brooklintowncrier.com Brooklin's Community Newspaper Proud to be a Brooklinite Since 2000. Published 24 times per year. Editor, Richard Bercuson 613-769-8629 • editorofbtc@gmail.com • Circulation 8000 • Delivery via Canada Post Locally owned and operated. A publication of Appletree Graphic Design Inc. We accept advertising in good faith but do not endorse advertisers nor advertisements. All editorial submissions are subject to editing. For advertising information, contact: Email: mulcahy42@rogers.com Next Issue: Friday, June 14, 2024 Deadline: Friday, June 7, 2024 Brooklin TOWN CRIER.com SALES (905) 721-6599 SERVICE (905) 721-6588 PARTS (905) 721-6577 445 Winchester Road East, Brooklin Check out our Pre-Owned Inventory on our website! 2024 ELANTRA • 2023 SONATA 2024 VENUE • 2024 KONA 2024 TUCSON • 2023 SANTA FE 2024 PALISADE • 2024 SANTA CRUZ VIEW CURRENT SPECIAL OFFERS AT HYUNDAICANADA.COM OR COME SEE US! Monday - Thursday 9:00am-7:00pm Friday 9:00am-5:30pm Saturday 9:00am-5:00pm Sunday Closed 1201 Dundas St. East, Whitby SALES 905-668-5846 SERVICE 905-668-8871 PARTS 905-668-8853 ELIGIBLE COSTCO MEMBERS CAN RECEIVE $1,200 BONUS ON SELECT TRUCKS* 2024 SIERRA 1500 GET UP TO CASH PURCHASE CREDIT ON SELECT MODELS $5300 HAVE FUN AT THE BROOKLIN SPRING FAIR! HAVE FUN AT THE BROOKLIN SPRING FAIR! You can retrofit a room, a house, or a building. Not so much an entire community. As Brooklin has grown well past the size of a village to becoming a suburban sprawl, we've learned there are limited options to fixing things that were either never thought of nor bothered with. To wit, Brooklin's lower east side. (Full disclosure: it's where the capacious Bercuson homestead is located.) Our homey little enclave is bounded by Anderson to the east, Winchester to the north, St. Thomas and Brooklin Memorial Park to the west, and highway 407 to the south. It is the only portion of Brooklin with but two ways in or out: Anderson or St. Thomas. Building - retrofitting - another way in is, of course, impractical and pretty much impossible. When planning this particular subdivision, prescience was left on the drafting room floor. Entering via Anderson, a lighted intersection with crosswalk signals, is fairly easy. However, the only other way in, via St. Thomas, is exasperating and dangerous. This is because the street is offset from Queen on the north side and, with nothing to slow or reroute traffic, accessing either from Winchester is nightmarish. For pedestrians hoping to get to the other side, as they said in The Sopranos, fuhgedaboudit. Compounding the problem is that Winchester is a regional road under Durham's control whereas the access streets are Whitby's. The Region's public works report makes no mention of doing anything at the dangerous intersection, this despite the obvious perils. Nearly 450 people signed a petition 18 months ago to signalise the miserable intersection. Perspective counts. There are just 527 residences in the sector. (Source: Canada Post) The Region seems to believe that a 3rd lane for turning will solve the problem, a laughable solution if it weren't so pathetic. I challenge those making such decisions to attempt to turn right or left from or onto St. Thomas or Queen. On Monday, Whitby council will discuss the issue with respect to staff report PDE 04-24. The request will be that $250,000 for signals be included in the property-tax funded 2025 budget with annual maintenance of signals of $8,000 be included for 2026. The vote will be on June 24. Is this what we call a no-brainer? It should be. Only two councillors, Rhonda Mulcahy and Steve Lee, live in Brooklin and neither is in the lower east side. Steve Yamada is close by, just below the 407. So really, none has lived the daily frustrations. I invite any councillor who has doubts about the problem to witness the drama. As the late Yankees catcher Yogi Berra said, "You can observe a lot by watching." Sometimes doing the right thing has a price. Less than half the picture: Dear Council: Do it By Richard Bercuson Durham Region Compost Giveaway event Saturday, June 1 from 8 a.m. to noon Whitby Operations Centre, 333 McKinney Drive, Whitby For more information, including tips for preparing to attend a compost event, please visit durham.ca/WasteEvents or download the Durham Region Waste App.