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It’s about vision.

Where do you see our city in 50 years? As Londoners, we might have passing thoughts about our future. As councillors, the road ahead needs to be front and centre in all of our decisions.

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And so, we found ourselves in a lengthy discussion as a community about how we should map out the next 50 years. Significant public consultation went into both the London Plan and our transportation master plan. Through some of the largest municipal public discussions in Canada, Londoners said clearly they wanted to decrease sprawl, protect our environment, improve mobility through the city, enhance affordability, and revitalize our downtown.

Rapid transit was developed to support all of these goals. But therein lies the rub. While most of us can ascribe to these goals, are we ready to accept that there might be some personal impacts that come with them?

During the past 13 years, Londoners have been very involved in the development of our transportation plans, however, as the plans became more refined, the more the personal impacts became known and resistance developed. Concerns about increased traffic congestion, project cost and the impacts of construction on businesses and residents came to a head.