I recently missed my bus because this dump truck was in the way:

It was parked across the sidewalk in front of the site of a townhouse development at 5161 Hastings St. Near Springer Ave. Workers were clearing the site of garbage before the existing buildings were demolished. The sidewalk and bus stop were obstructed.

Apparently there wasn’t enough room in front of the property to park their dump truck without obstructing the sidewalk so the driver decided to just their giant dump truck across the sidewalk forcing pedestrians to walk against traffic on Hastings St. to get around them.

The sidewalks along Hastings are not just a convenience to get from a parking lot to a car but vital thoroughfares that link people to services and amenities such as grocery stores, medical appointments and bus stops.

Blocking this right of way without the proper city permits is wildly unacceptable, a violation of bylaws and a middle finger to the people in this neighbourhood. Especially those people like myself who rely on their feet or public transit to get where they need to go.

This is an urban area and many residents including myself rely on transit and their feet to get where they need to go. The 135 Burrard Station/SFU bus that serves this route for example is one of the top 10 busiest routes in the region serving 6,227,000 passengers in 2013.

The City of Burnaby classifies Hastings as a primary arterial street and one of the most important east-west corridors in the region with approximately 40,000 to 45,000 vehicles a day.

Unless you’re somehow immune to the impact of huge buses, trucks and cars barrelling down the street at 80 km an hour it’s not the safest place for an afternoon stroll.

I’ve never filed a traffic complaint in my life and I had no idea who to report this to. Consequently, the truck was fled the scene by the time I figured out who to call. So, I decided to just blog about it instead!

A company called Timeless Developments is building a 22-unit stacked townhouse development with underground parking at 5161 and 5191 Hastings. This is the developer:

Timeless Developments 3724 McGill Avenue Burnaby, BC V5C IE9 (Attention: Michael Bosa)

I am not opposed to redevelopment in my area. Granted, I wish more of them included affordable rental housing for low-income folks like myself but that’s a discussion I will save for another day. I just think developers should exercise more respect for public safety.

I understand that developers may need to obstruct a street or sidewalk in order to complete a project. But there are proper ways to do that. Take the example of Censorio. They are a real estate developer currently building some condos three blocks away at 4719 Hastings.

A few months back they were pouring the cement into the foundation. I think. Anyway, they had this big machine that obstructed the sidewalk which meant pedestrians like myself would have to walk around. Would we get killed? Probably not. They posted signs, placed tall traffic cones around the obstruction and a few workers in hardhats and bright reflective vests courteously directed pedestrian traffic.

Those are the kind of neighbours we need.