Traverse Drive is located in the Bank and Heron area of town. At first
glance, it looks like a wonderful, picture-book middle class
neighbourhood. The homes are about 40 years old on lots boasting 50-foot frontage and depths of 100 to 150 feet. The street itself is a dead end backing onto a park and school property. In short, it looks like a wonderful place to raise a family. Indeed this is what several families are trying to do. However, for some 22 houses on the west side of Traverse, the Owe-train is running almost through their backyards some 18 hours a day, seven days a week, four to five times an hour.

By now, Sun readers know about the Peloso family on Traverse Drive with their two sets of young twin girls who can't sleep. Yours truly paid them a visit this past Tuesday and sure enough, the house shakes when the train comes through, lights flicker and it is awfully noisy. And all this with the speed of light rail trains having been reduced. The track and train elevation presents an uncomfortable problem for residents as Owe-train riders get an obstructed peak into backyards and windows along Traverse, even with some back yards being surrounded by six-foot hedges.

I saw this first hand on Sunday when I took a ride on the Owe-train.
(We'll save the details of intermittent stop announcements and the fact that most families riding it see it as a way to amuse the kids but not much else for another day.)

However, here's the question that city by-law officers should answer:
Why aren't they charging the city or Owe-train officials for repeated,
persistent and flagrant noise by-law violations? Environmental standards allow for a five-decibel leeway above the ambient (normal) noise levels, but as the train rolls through, it is a 30-decibel jump above ambient noise levels. Moreover, on Monday night, the Peloso's inform me that the train was running at full speed again behind their house and Ottawa police were actually called - and a file has been opened - about this issue.

The city was supposed to put up a noise and privacy barrier along this stretch of track, and with the Owe-train delayed by two months, there is absolutely no excuse whatsoever why this shouldn't have been done. As of today, there is no barrier and it appears that it will be February at the earliest before one is erected. This is unacceptable and the fact that heads haven't rolled is beyond comprehension.

The city's behaviour on this file has been irresponsible and arrogant.
But this is nothing new, indeed a 1999 email exchange between another resident (let's call him Taxpayer X) and a sitting city councillor (an RMOC councillor at the time, let's call him Clive Doucet) points to a fundamental contempt for the residents of Traverse Drive from the outset.

A January 30, 1999, email to Mr. Doucet reads: \\\\"I have just recently
attended a meeting/information session held at the Walkley arena at
which I expected to be able to discuss, with someone from the city,
concerns I had about how this project (read: light rail) was going to
impact on my family, other residents of our street, and our neighbourhood. Unfortunately, there was no representative of city
council present and the only people with whom I could speak were the 'experts' who had conducted some sort of environmental study.\\\\"

The email went on to state \\\\"I'm sure that if your back fence was 46 feet from the centre of a rail line that is expected to have 120 trains a day (as quoted by the 'experts') roar by, you would be concerned that your property value and your life style were about to go down the tubes. Of course many will say that we shouldn't have bought near a rail line in the first place but then again you go by information made available at the time, such as CPR, who stated that the line would be discontinued, and indeed it was. And by City Hall who also stated, at the time, that the line would be torn up when the CPR abandoned it.\\\\"

On February 2, 1999, at 3:25 pm, Councillor Doucet responded from his old [email protected] email address. He wrote:

\\\\"I have thousands and thousands of cars roll by 45 feet from my back door every day. I can assure you the idea of exchanging those thousands of cars for 120 two-car trains, each one making less noise than a bus would be a delight. Nor am I alone. Increasingly, residents of Ottawa are seeing what were once quiet residential streets or simply peak period commuter routes turn into round the clock rivers of auto and truck traffic. I am not unsympathetic to you disliking the activation of the rail line behind your property but I think if you give it a moment's thought to all the people living along regional roads like Walkley, Bronson, Carling, Baseline and so on, you will realize that your inconvenience is minimal. Yours truly, Clive Doucet.\\\\"

So let's get this straight. Having your property decline in value by
some 10K to 30K, having your kids not sleep at night, having elected
officials tell you that a light rail train will be quieter than a bus
(talk about being economical with the truth), and having to call the
Ottawa police because a part of the public transit system is ruining you life is in the words of one councillor ... an \\\\"inconvenience\\\\" that is \\\\"minimal.\\\\"

This is patently disrespectful. And if the city treated one group of
residents like this to ram the 5-stop, 8km light rail pilot project
through, there is no telling what may happen in their rush to expand the lines further South, East and/or West.

The city is violating it's own noise by-laws. The region and now the new city, apparently violated commitments and covenants made by predecessor municipal governments and the police have been called because the trains are being run at faster speeds again.

Traverse Drive taxpayers need more than a not-so-humble columnist to press their case, they need someone with courage to stand up at the council table (other than their councillor who likes to write emails)
and defend their interests, but most importantly, they probably need a hot shot lawyer who yearns to take on city hall. Because it's time to
fight city hall!