FHC has learned the Pavilion parking lot on the Central Common is slated for paving. Soon. The restricted (not public) lot is directly beside the wading pool and the pathway that follows the route of Freshwater Brook through the Central Common. Why is the city’s priority cars and paving the Common instead of landscaping the pathway? Hundreds of walkers and cyclists use the route everyday-why not make it beautiful, add some benches or how about a few tables with roofs?

“This brilliant illustration shows how much public space we’ve surrendered to cars” is from an article of the same name at https://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/11/18/7236471/cars-pedestrians-roads

Citizens have raised concerns about safety for pedestrians in this area for years. Up to 18 or 20 cars crowd into the lot and until recently drivers would pull out along the public pathway and into the crosswalk on Cogswell Street to exit.

An easy solution would have been to ticket illegal vehicles and lock the gate. Instead, the city unnecessarily replaced the old gate with a new but still unlocked gate, and installed an unattractive chain link fence and a badly designed barrier gate along the pathway that interferes with cyclists and walkers. Cars continue to illegally park at the lot and are still a hazard to pedestrians in the crosswalk.

Soon the vehicles will have an asphalt surface but the waders, walkers and cyclists will only get the run-off.

Want to stop more Halifax Common from being paved? Write the Mayor and Council at clerks@halifax.ca