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l - l WAWCHW-Wedrmdly,w20.mil°3 LRT deb ate oes Viral ' l g a o o a o o o f i Neighbourhood meeting hijacked as limiter war breaks out over light rail trans“ 81/80an a local group that has been lobbying in ' ‘ . _J v 1 inmate Sufi favour «light rail truism. tweeted that Mayor ‘ ' ' V Mr» ‘ Brenda Halloran. regional councillors lane . kl - ocal politicians got a taste of just how Mitchell and Sean Strickland, and uptown ' - ~' ., J, . ' I contentious the light rail transit debate councillor Melisa Dwell would be speaking . "J ' _ ”3&3“ J 5 getting last week when a neighbour- at an “anti-LRT meeting,” £5 1‘1”," ’ hood meeting about its potential impact By that time it had gone viral and Mayor "“ became a battleground for opposing sides. Hallotan contacted local media, including 41 causing them to pull the plug. the Chronicle. to tell them that reports of a ‘ F Residents of the Catalina Homes neigh- rally were erroneous and that the Friday ~ WW“ ' r bourhood of Caroline Street spent weeks try- meeting at the Waterloo Adult Recreation ; ”$531" ing to set up a meeting with the mayor, Centrewasmncelled. who - 7, regional councillors and city councillors to Halloran said she was concerned about ’ ' discuss their concerns about the proposed the impact of a large body of people route of the [RT Linda Hacker, one of the descending on the local senior centre. indiâ€" organizers of the meeting. said they couldn‘t cations were that hundreds would be attend- . get any satisfactory answers from regional ing the meeting and disturbing the seniors said Hawonh. “I intended to have anti-LRT community and they want their voices hard planners on a host of concerns. including the who are already there for other program- people go to it and have a minute or two to beforeajune decbion on light rail transit. fact that the new trains would pass 25 feet ming. say what their concerns were to the council- “The tax implications are huge and our from their backyard, at the community “l was worried about the impact on lorsandthemayor. _ propenyvalueswillbeimpacted."saidflack- forums. They wanted the meeting so they them,” said Halloran. “As well. that wasn't the ‘lt was intended to be a meeting. There er. “Nobody buys a house with a train run- could speak directly to local politicians about intent of the meeting. we're never supposed to be any placards or ning through their backyard. their concerns “It was a private meeting at the request of signs outside." ‘They say this is an improvement but J i ‘We just don't know who to call anymore citizens. It wasn't a public meeting so we Haworth accused the pro-LRT camps of honestly. ljust don‘t buy it.‘ ‘ because we just don’t feel like anybody wants thought it was best if we just rescheduled it. playing polity; and whipping up sentiment Halloran encouraged people to attend the to listen." said Hacker. “We figured maybe as We just wanted pimple to realize that it wasn’t in what was supposed to be simply a session upcoming regional council meetings to a group we could have somebody listen a rally of any sort. and it was just a regular for people who felt theyweren‘t beingheard. express their concerns. and e-mail regional about the neighbourhood impact without meetingwe have with citizens" "me pro«LR'I‘ people have had their rally councillors and oflicials directiy to log their the statistics and all that other stuff." Ruth Haworth. spokesperson for T4812 in December and we didn't interfere with it, responses to the LRT proposal. But news of the neighbourhood meeting said she olTered to mobilize people to attend and now they’ve interfered with this. “I'm aware that there are a lot of concerns leaked out into the community, with oppo~ what she thought was a public meeting. but it “The anti-LRT people I know are older being raised by the community and there are nents of the LRT proposal planning to attend was never intended to be an anti-LRT rally and are not necessarily rallies This was our people who feel that they need more ques- supported by members of Taxpayers for Sen- like the one pro~LRT groups held in the chance for a bunch to get together and Tri- tion answered,‘ said Halloran. "There are sible Transit. By last Thursday rumours were Waterloo public square last Deoemeber. TAG has interfered with that through tricks." question about cost and routing that we realâ€" swirling that the meeting had turned into a “I invited a lot of people, but I never ever Hackerand her neighbours have had their [y need to understand. . hill-blown antiâ€"LRT rally and hundrecb were intended for people to think that the mayor meeting with local politicians rescheduled to “Everybody has to have the same infor- expected to attend Friday’s meeting “Iii-TAG. was behind the meeting because she wasn't.” May, But she said there's a lot of anger in the matinn." , - , * .v _ L “4'51",P‘y“. ,, no» vow: > ,3 v r 1 J “ .2: a .: r at»: 2:.- vga-o-g axe-fin E.‘ t :v":; r ' .. § ; <15 ‘1‘" i '- s- .5 $ ‘ .‘I so}. ’2 ' 3“ l. ‘ ‘, i a: {3 V {I ’3 a ’ v a a. 7‘ if» I W O maj so m «seemicse; as 1 Hum WW," . h. a; g. , _ iii-his v E<é94flfivf "was“ :2” o‘n‘gfi: whim? . gém‘goa« . . . 1 , . .7 i ‘ I” E ‘ 3 _ ~ 7 , «,3' W M" to in» a ;' £5175? 4 i l L -‘ ~ v a ‘3" 33.» sweat-@215”;{or-guy's“ =v J5: low-73. o I, - V * it; _ “WI-ht In; J loft“ o it , - m...“ ~. tog: to??? ~ 2 an o . v J , , J 2 v: 1 mW it, ' - ‘3‘. , g. i , V i; «“32:th If}? ‘ficrczw gu-é's-‘ftsg‘,i_.3-F M; ;: at": :1! vfeoétgé‘t‘w, n 'H ' ' I mmn’hfi M »» gfigwki #3; if :f’Vx 91.2 ‘ J -* 5%; *5; segwsssgoszgxo :v? ”iwi‘gigl‘ “of; J 1 ‘ .‘-,‘ 3:. 1 1" â€" ' *9“ '7 ”a?” t ,j as? our: ‘ i ' it ' r77 I ‘ 4 a “W ””iieo o aw“; it} l alums-3" _, mt i v "‘7 s . with non ‘J .. f' I g: r .. it o if oMo' A, Ho : 3:: . o ‘ no:- new mtg (rue-aeomu-Iumea an . . ’ , " were , . - , v z. . 3* v. a L r in manner T5" _ ’ " dun-m 1* ‘ ' . . _ . _, «1, z‘ ; ‘ t, a: " so; is? :42:- 2 rim-d ' j W rm W out no ”I -‘ » ‘ ‘-. ”List-:5: a? ‘ 3Q“; Jar“ so; o " . 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