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A rant re. trails.
Dear privileged St. John's folks:
Some of you are way too comfortable invalidating people with disabilities so you can keep your trails just how you like them for hobby walking.
It's a really bad look. It makes you come off apathetic and ableist.
Stop.
Dear privileged St. John's folks:
Some of you are way too comfortable invalidating people with disabilities so you can keep your trails just how you like them for hobby walking.
It's a really bad look. It makes you come off apathetic and ableist.
Stop.
The people to whom this project is geared may find it life-changing. It will significantly help marginalised people freely access our city.
You will still be able to use these trails like you do; you'll just have to share them.
Is that really why you're fighting this?
You will still be able to use these trails like you do; you'll just have to share them.
Is that really why you're fighting this?
"But there was no engagement!" Y'all, this plan was literally the result of an extensive engagement process.
It just centered voices other than yours.
PWDs, cyclists (not just "hardcore" cyclists), urban planners, folks without cars, and many others contributed.
It just centered voices other than yours.
PWDs, cyclists (not just "hardcore" cyclists), urban planners, folks without cars, and many others contributed.
Their overwhelming preference was for mixed-use trails, because our streets are hostile to active transportation users, and because everyone should be able to access these public amenities.
There is ongoing engagement on each trail's plans, and you are welcome to contribute.
There is ongoing engagement on each trail's plans, and you are welcome to contribute.
I hear you when you say you feel left out of this process.
But I want you to sit with that feeling, because it's a lot like the feelings that people with disabilities, and others who this trail will benefit, feel every day.
Our society really does leave them out.
A lot.
But I want you to sit with that feeling, because it's a lot like the feelings that people with disabilities, and others who this trail will benefit, feel every day.
Our society really does leave them out.
A lot.
Your input deserves to be heard, just like everyone's. But sometimes hearing everyone means working harder to listen to those people who most struggle to be heard. When we uplift their voices, we make decisions that work better for everyone. That applies here, too.
This project is, in large part, about improving mobility and accessibility for our most vulnerable citizens, for whom transport is often insurmountably difficult. Listening to their voices got us here. They deserve to be centered in our decisions.
Instead, I'm hearing insistence that we center privileged hobbyist amblers instead. And the ease with which some folks have recentered this discussion on those voices is both really alarming, and proof of how much privilege they're working with.
So to those folks, I say:
So to those folks, I say:
Instead of talking around the marginalised voices who are speaking in support of this project, try listening to them the way you want people to listen to you.
They might help you understand why this is honestly a good thing, and help assuage some of your concerns.
They might help you understand why this is honestly a good thing, and help assuage some of your concerns.
This plan will not "make the trails look like Kenmount Road". They'll still be beautiful and scenic and unmarred by car dealerships. But it will stop folks with wheelchairs and strollers from having to use streets as dangerous as Kenmount Road just to get around.
This will not result in cyclists mowing down trail-walkers. (They already don't do that on the T'Railway, a mixed-use trail we've had for ages.) But it will stop cyclists from having to risk being mowed down by cars because there's no appropriate infrastructure for bikes.
This will not result in rampant environmental destruction. Quite the other. It will allow us to *avoid* damaging our environment by helping us reduce our reliance on cars, and by stopping the trails themselves getting so heavily damaged in rainstorms.
Most of all, this will not happen without lots of engagement, and listening to all concerned voices - including yours.
But when you speak, please think about the ways your actions will impact people who might truly need our help, and for whom this project could be a lifeline.
But when you speak, please think about the ways your actions will impact people who might truly need our help, and for whom this project could be a lifeline.
Standing together will make our city a better place.
Correcting injustice will make our city a better place.
Protecting privilege at the expense of others' basic rights will not.
This city should be a home for all of us. Let's make sure it is.
Correcting injustice will make our city a better place.
Protecting privilege at the expense of others' basic rights will not.
This city should be a home for all of us. Let's make sure it is.
