4. TRAFFIC & PARKING

What’s the issue?

Traffic and parking are usually treated like somebody else’s problem until everyone is already stuck in it.

We approve development, we change roads, we redesign downtown. Then somebody finally asks:

Where are all these cars supposed to go?

That question needs to come earlier.

Can Council do anything?

On a lot of it, yes.

Council has authority over local roads, parking decisions, traffic calming, pedestrian improvements, and local transportation priorities.

We don’t control every Regional road, and we certainly don’t control the QEW.

But “that belongs to somebody else” should not be the end of the conversation either.

What next?

Identify what we actually control.

Fix the simple stuff first.

Measure traffic before making major changes.

Measure it again afterward.

And stop approving things without considering where people are going to drive and where they are going to park.