It was Byron Night at London city hall as the city’s west-enders won an agreement to look at other sites for a long-awaited firehall but lost a fight over proposed bus route changes.

Board of control was directed to look again at locations for the firehall amid concerns its preferred site on Boler Road was chosen without public input.

But an attempt to force London Transit and the council’s environment and transportation committee to hold a public meeting into plans to put buses onto sections of Griffith St. and Grandview Ave. Beginning in September went nowhere.

West End ward councilors Ted Wernham and Martha Joyce were only half successful despite vigorous protests they said they were relaying from Byron rate players.

Wernham said he was incensed Byron residents would get their long-promised fire hall but it would be located on city-owned Parkland north of South Dale wrote.

“You’re hosing them on the location,” he accused the Board of Control and city administration. There’s no need to locate a fire hall on Parkland.

The city plan was to locate the $1 million fire hall at what has been access to a wooded area.

Closed process: Joyce complained the site was selected under a closed process by city administration I want it to be a public decision, not a bureaucratic decision she said the council voted to send the site requestion back to the Board of Control for further review with input from cities parks and engineering departments.

Boredom was less successful when he raised safety concerns as a reason to reopen the question for proposed bus route changes new paragraph he wanted a public hearing in the interests of neighbourhood safety and civility.

He and Joyce said residents along the two streets are angry and need to vent their views which London Transit heard but rejected last week when it adopted its self-recommended changes to widen its coverage of the Byron area this issue has been mishandled word and charged.

Can’t change: But Grinch Hopcroft the city controller who chairs London Transit said the issue was decided last week and the Commission can’t change back because of union agreements.

He said London Transit will be happy to meet presents to deal with how the changes will be implemented but not on changes themselves

Source: the London Free Press