LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

TRAFFIC BRIDGE BEST

Some of the current councillors are questioning the need to replace the Traffic Bridge.

I have to wonder whether they have ever attempted to enter or leave downtown Saskatoon in the morning, noon-hour or evening peak “rush hours.”

In our rapidly growing city, what used to be a “rush hour” now regularly lasts two to 2½ hours. The daily peak traffic periods are now extended gridlock.

Yes, Saskatoon has lived without the Traffic Bridge for two years, but to its det- riment. This city requires a vehicular replacement for the bridge to restore reliable passage into and out of the downtown core. The bridge must be able to accommodate cars, trucks, buses and emergency vehicles. A pedestrian/cycling bridge will not suffice Neil Richardson Saskatoon

DEPLORABLE BIAS

I find the outrageous bias of our government and of a lot of the North American media infuriating.

When Palestine rockets kill five Israelis it is murder, but when Israel surgical strikes kill 300 Palestinians it is “Israel’s right to self-defence,” even though it was Israel that broke the truce by assassinating a Hamas leader without any provocation.

Then the Harper government strongly opposed Palestine’s bid for recognition at the United Nations. Now that Palestine has been overwhelmingly recognized by the General Assembly, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says Canada will take retaliatory measures against Palestine.

What gives it the right? It is certainly not the will of Canadians, the majority of whom did not vote for the Harper government.

The government argues that the problem of Palestine’s statehood should be resolved through negotiations. With Israel having absolute power and Palestine none, Israel has made a mockery of the process, and our government knows the negotiations are going nowhere. If Stephen Harper and his government really believe in peace in the Middle East, they would fully support the UN resolution.

As it is now, our government supports a nation living under the most appalling conditions, particularly the people of Gaza who are prisoners in their own land, with all their rights violated daily and not even humanitarian aid allowed in. People even got killed for trying to break this insane blockade.

As Robert Gordon (SP, Nov 30) so rightly put it, “Palestinians are not vermin. Jews are not kings”. Ralph Ibanez Saskatoon

BETTER SOLUTION

We would do well to step back from attributing degrees of blame to the individuals involved in the recent transit hub skirmish and realize that the incident is symptomatic of two underlying issues.

First, some of the brightest young minds in Saskatoon exhibit an alarming lack of judgment and regard for personal safety when crossing the “bus loop” at the university.

What might be needed is a prolonged public education campaign that focuses on students and addresses the dangers of texting and/ or listening to music while walking and crossing roadways. Awareness is a shared responsibility between pedestrians and motorists; too often at the university bus terminal, that responsibility falls solely to transit operators.

The second issue is the design of the bus terminal, which strikes close to home for me as a fourth-year student in the regional and urban planning program at the U of S.

Most of the options have been suggested and debated in class over the years involve drastically redesigning the terminal and physically separating pedestrians from vehicles. However, I propose a simpler, cost effective solution with two design elements.

First, separating the eastand westbound entrance and exit for buses — one at Wiggins Avenue and one at either Bottomley or Cumberland — would eliminate some of the confusion at the loop. Second, a wide pedestrian median that separates traffic movement would reduce in half the amount of roadway that students must cross.

Rather than argue right versus wrong, or pedestrian rights versus motorists’ rights, a more fruitful exercise is to acknowledges this as a shared space between buses and pedestrians. Kyle Witiw Saskatoon

GOOD FOR DRIVER

Re: Driver suspended pending probe (SP, Dec. 1). Three cheers for the bus driver. We need more people like him.

Unfortunately, he could be fired. The pedestrian should be grateful that he wasn’t turned into a pancake, although I am sure he would think he was making some sort of statement. How sad. Duane Granrude Saskatoon