City Councillors met late Friday night for a special meeting surrounding a decision earlier in the week over a 5K Walk/Run schedule for Sunday afternoon in support of Right To Heal.
On Monday, race organizer Dave Dame approached council to plead his case over a decision by the clerks office to deny his application to shut down George Street to hold his run prior to the annual St Patrick’s Day parade.
While council voted 9-1 in favour of reversing the decision by the clerk’s office, Mayor Jeff Leal met with members of city staff and the Peterborough Police Service to get more information on why the race permit was denied, and made a motion to hold the special council meeting on Friday night.
- Safety concerns due to the race going in both directions on George Street with participants going north on George Street from Lansdowne Street West to McDonnel Street before returning to Lansdowne Street travelling south on George Street, which would require a full road closure to prevent vehicles from crossing George Street at intersections and driveways to homes and businesses, instead of a rolling road closure that had been proposed in the application;
- The ability to provide the necessary number of police officers to provide officers at every intersection, which would be needed for a full road closure on George Street between Lansdowne Street West and McDonnel Street;
- Allowing emergency services to cross George Street in case of an emergency; and
- Businesses along the section of George Street not having access to their businesses by vehicle for the duration of the full road closure.
Ultimately, council heard staff recommend two other locations that the race could take place including Nicholls Oval and the Rotary Greenway Trail.
In a General Committee, council voted in favour of overturning their decision on Monday night.
Council then heard from organizer Dave Dame who immediately asked ‘did you guys just vote to cancel my race?’ He told council that he had no specific knowledge of any of these concerns after an initial meeting on February 3rd. He also told councillors in part, that he was only interested in holding his event downtown and not at a trail or Nichols Oval.
Councillors also heard from Peterborough Police Traffic Sgt Matt McGill about specific concerns regarding staffing along the race route who he said were relayed to the clerks office.
Many councillors spoke about the message that reversing their decision would send, including Keith Riel who remarked about how this decision is ‘a black eye to the city.’
Ultimately, council voted 6-5 to the amendment, cancelling the permit for the race to be run on George Street and instead allowing it to take place on one of the two alternative routes.
In an interview with the Peterborough Examiner, Dame said that he would be cancelling the run and refunding the 120 runners who had signed up, and he would be making a personal donation to the Right To Heal charity.
(written by Graham Elliott)
