Support for Cole Harbour hedge cause

To the editor:
Re: Disagreement 'over the hedge' not over, The Weekly News, Jan. 23
My wife and I have lived in the neighbourhood, presently on Shrewsbury Road, for more than four years. When we first moved into the area I drove a medium-sized car and my wife has a full size (of course I drove both cars). At present I have a Ford Ranger, which has a much higher driver position than either of the two cars. I have to tell you, Mr. Huggins, that I totally agree with you.
That intersection at Caldwell Road and Sherwood Drive is very dangerous. I have experienced several close calls there, especially in the summer when the hedge is in full leaf. Even now, with as little snow as we have, when entering Caldwell in my pickup, I have to ease well out onto the shoulder of Caldwell to check for oncoming northbound traffic before I can proceed. Yes, indeed it is dangerous.
There is a two-fold problem at that intersection. The first and most easily corrected is the hedge, and the second is the volume and speed of the north-bound traffic, not so easily remedied.
As further testimony to this problem, I am not one who makes what the police like to call "rolling stops" when they hand out tickets ... but I received a ticket for a rolling stop at that intersection last year. It cost me $178. I had in fact stopped, and then proceeded to ease out, but I guess the officer didn't see me stop and only saw me easing out.
I went to the Dartmouth Provincial Courthouse to dispute the ticket that time, fully prepared to present pictures and argue the problem caused by the hedge. When I got there I found that because of my position in the alphabetical list, it was going to take most of the day before my name was called and then only to have a date set for a hearing/trial. This would mean another trip to the courthouse and another day lost from my business. So, I decided it was cheaper to just mail in the payment and forget about it, so I left the courthouse.
As for the opinions of the two city engineers, I actually suspect that they arrived in the wrong type of vehicle for the assessment, probably some city-owned one-ton truck or larger. Because, if you are in anything less than a full-size half-ton, you cannot have a clear view in the southerly direction at that intersection.
Until now I always assumed that hedge was private property. Since it is city-owned, doesn't that make all of us the owners? So maybe we should just go and remove it ourselves? But of course. that would get us charged with destruction of public property. On the other hand, if the hedge and land were privately owned the city would waste no time declaring it a public safety hazard and ordering the owner to remove it.
Mr. Huggins, I will gladly join you in your campaign to have the hedge completely removed. In fact, if the city bureaucracy cannot figure out how to fix the problem, just give us the go ahead and we will do it ourselves and in short order.
Ben Patey
Cole Harbour