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Walking in Waterloo Region
(07-28-2017, 02:46 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: That's quite a snipe from the City account, makes you wonder who's running it. Or they're just doing as the public does, and assuming that any construction is ION-related (/to be blamed on LRT). That site is more than half a kilometer from the nearest portion of the LRT line.

Those tweets from the City were unprofessional.

The first one is incorrect to mention LRT for the reason you mention, and it’s unprofessional for them not to know that before posting.

The second one is also unprofessional. It should acknowledge that you are correct and that they goofed in the first one (in fact if they did that I for one would be willing to forgive the goof — everybody makes mistakes and says dumb things from time to time).

Additionally, the general thrust of their message should be more like, “that’s a Regional Road, so we’ll mention it to [name of specific Regional contact]”, not “don’t bug us, it’s Somebody Else’s Problem”. As it happens I took a mandatory Customer Service session recently which talked about this issue, although in the context of IT support not roads and sidewalks, but it’s also just good sense.
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The sidewalks at Louisa and St. Leger have finally been re-installed. I think they were removed about 4 or 5 years ago for Victoria Commons construction , the townhouses in this section have been complete for about a year and a half. It's about time they got them replaced.
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A new patio on King St in front of "Lou Dawg's":
   

I had thought there was some sort sub-committee studying patio locations along this stretch related to Ion before patios were going to be installed.

Can someone explain why cities allow patios next to the building and not closer to the curb. As a pedestrian it is very frustrating to constantly be zig-zagging around these patios.

For instance the one in front of Fat Bastard Burrito Co. in Kitchener on King. It only leaves about 1.5m between the patio fence and the marble bench that is part of the sunken garden.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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(09-08-2017, 07:23 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: A new patio on King St in front of "Lou Dawg's":


I had thought there was some sort sub-committee studying patio locations along this stretch related to Ion before patios were going to be installed.

Can someone explain why cities allow patios next to the building and not closer to the curb. As a pedestrian it is very frustrating to constantly be zig-zagging around these patios.

For instance the one in front of Fat Bastard Burrito Co. in Kitchener on King. It only leaves about 1.5m between the patio fence and the marble bench that is part of the sunken garden.

I hope that's not your truck parked on the iON tracks.... Wink

Coke
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The patio is next to the restaurant... is that not how it should be?

If it were placed closer to the tracks, with the sidewalk between it and the restaurant, guests and serving staff would be endlessly criss-crossing the sidewalk.

That sounds even worse.

The sidewalk is ridiculously wide here. What am I missing?
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(09-11-2017, 12:37 PM)Canard Wrote: The patio is next to the restaurant... is that not how it should be?

If it were placed closer to the tracks, with the sidewalk between it and the restaurant, guests and serving staff would be endlessly criss-crossing the sidewalk.

That sounds even worse.

The sidewalk is ridiculously wide here. What am I missing?

I think you’re basically right. The sidewalk is deliberately wide to allow patios. The only comment I would make is that with the patios and the planters, the remaining sidewalk is only slightly wide. It seems like the planters could either be shifted right to the curb (the narrow space between them and the curb is useless) or incorporated into the patio fence.

People walking along can perfectly well walk near the curb however (and I don’t mean really near, just nearer to it than to the buildign). It’s an LRT lane so it isn’t constant noise and danger like a general traffic lane.
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The narrow space between the tracks and the planters is not useless - it provides a valuable safe area so a person has an escape path and won't be crushed by an LRV.
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New paving artwork is being installed on the driveway/walkway between the Button Factory and the rail tracks. I'm sure it'll look fantastic when it's complete!

They should do something similar where the rail line crosses King St to discourage drivers from driving along the tracks...

   

(The rainbow lens flair was a happy coincidence  Cool)
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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(09-11-2017, 01:07 PM)Canard Wrote: The narrow space between the tracks and the planters is not useless - it provides a valuable safe area so a person has an escape path and won't be crushed by an LRV.

Do you mean if they are already on the LRT tracks? I’m just wondering because some narrow spots can’t be made narrower — but can be eliminated entirely. I would have thought that the gaps between planters would be sufficient (and better) for this purpose than the space between the planters and the curb.
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(09-11-2017, 03:23 PM)UrbanCanoe Wrote: New paving artwork is being installed on the driveway/walkway between the Button Factory and the rail tracks. I'm sure it'll look fantastic when it's complete!

They should do something similar where the rail line crosses King St to discourage drivers from driving along the tracks...



(The rainbow lens flair was a happy coincidence  Cool)

I bicycle right through there every day! I wondered this morning what they were doing — when I went by I actually went around because it was a truck with some people looking busy but no sign at that time of what they were actually doing.

Looks absolutely great! Agreed about doing something like that at King St. I’ve seen drivers driving on both parts, east and west of King.

I just hope it holds up to traffic, but in that location it should be mostly non-motor traffic.
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ijmorlan - did you ever play "Frogger" as a kid? Big Grin
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(09-11-2017, 03:50 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: I bicycle right through there every day! I wondered this morning what they were doing — when I went by I actually went around because it was a truck with some people looking busy but no sign at that time of what they were actually doing.

Looks absolutely great! Agreed about doing something like that at King St. I’ve seen drivers driving on both parts, east and west of King.

I just hope it holds up to traffic, but in that location it should be mostly non-motor traffic.

Is the paint textured? If not biking on that in the rain would be like biking on an ice rink.
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(09-11-2017, 03:23 PM)UrbanCanoe Wrote: They should do something similar where the rail line crosses King St to discourage drivers from driving along the tracks...

Are we supposed to be discouraging that? I mean, it looks like a driveway, and there was one there before. Aside from temporary Do Not Enter signs, I don't know if it is going to be closed to vehicles or not.
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@timc. It is absolutely closed to cars. There is a curb at the other end.
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