Tempers flared last night during a Public Information Centre (PIC) on the reconstruction of Broderick Avenue.
Concerned neighbours showed up in droves at City Hall to voice their discontent with the four different designs proposed for the project.
“You want to take all our tax dollars doing all of this crap that nobody wants,” yelled one upset resident, during the meeting. “Nobody wants it changed. Put in a new curb, new side walk, fix the road properly this time. This isn’t right. Next time ask us first.”
The meeting was originally supposed to take place at one of the smaller rooms at City Hall but because of the large number of people who showed up it was quickly moved to City Council chambers.
Seven of the eight Thorold City Councillors were present at the meeting, as City Hall staff fielded questions from residents.
Broderick Avenue has been in a state of disrepair for several years. Reconstruction of the boulevard was supposed to commence this spring, but a design for the project still hasn’t been nailed down.
That’s why another PIC meeting was held last night, to get more feedback on what residents want.
The meeting revealed that the trust between the Avenue’s residents and City Hall staff has broken down since the first PIC, which was held on Feb. 8, 2020.
“The first PIC is when they presented those four options,” Broderick Avenue resident Dan Meloche told ThoroldToday, in an interview after the meeting.
“I don’t know what the comment sheets said but I know what I said. None of that was documented and fed back to us until we had another PIC meeting and the drawing that they chose wasn’t even one of the options in 2020. When we asked the engineers, they said that was the people’s choice. That can’t be the people’s choice because that wasn’t an option in 2020. That’s your choice.”
According to the residents, there’s been a real lack of communication concerning the project.
Because of budgetary constraints, City Hall has split construction into two phases, with each of them focusing on a different part of Broderick Avenue. Even though phase one and phase two will follow the same design, only homes affected by phase one got a personal invitation to attend previous PIC meetings.
“You didn’t invite half the street last time,” said one resident, during last night's meeting. “You’re purposely only inviting phase one and omitted phase two. Whatever you do with phase one affects phase two. It’s common sense.”
City Councillors urged City Hall staff to use the address information provided by the residents to keep them abreast of any new developments concerning the project.
“This is a public process that we need to follow and make sure,” said Councillor Henry D’Angela. “Citizens are asking for a specific design. It’s not one of these four that are on there. It’s a very simple process here.”
While residents have been clamouring for the city to repair their street — which is notorious for its potholes — they don’t understand why the avenue should have to change at all.
“Each one of [the proposals] is designed so that we have to give something up,” Meloche said. “I grew up in Thorold. That street was the signature street of the town. When people came to Thorold the first street they knew was Broderick Avenue. Why would we want to give that up?”
A major sore point for the neighbours is the lack of parking in the redesigns.
“Not having parking on the street absolutely makes no sense at all,” said Meloche. “These homes were built before most people had multiple cars. We can’t make the driveways bigger now so what do we do?”
Now that feedback has been collected, City Hall will put together a new design, which will then have to be approved by City Council before work on phase one of the project can actually begin.
Meloche, for his part, is hopeful that the neighbours have finally been listened to and that their street will stay the same.
“Each and every one of the councillors is in our corner and they are the ones who have to vote on it,” he said. “I’m confident that councillors will make it happen.”
