What neighbours are saying
Sixty-one neighbours. One street at a time.
Residents across East Vancouver have been leaving comments on the petition to remove the barricades. We read them and grouped them by what people actually raised.
The pattern is clearer than we expected.
What people raised, and how often
Most comments raised more than one concern, so these do not add up to 100 percent. Counts are from the 61 comments posted on the petition page as of August 2026.
The lanes are the story
Two in five comments describe the same thing: traffic that used to be on the street is now in the lane behind the house. People describe drivers speeding past while they take out garbage bins, children who can no longer play where they used to, and lanes that were quiet for decades now carrying commuter traffic.
This is the concern raised most often, by a wide margin. It is also the one that traffic modelling should have anticipated.
“At Woodland and 5th, cars unable to continue south instead zip up our back alley. I'm all for quieter streets, for more speed bumps and enforcement, but the unintended effect of these barriers is that traffic finds alternate routes, rather than making the area as a whole safer.”Michael
“I took the garbage bins out early one morning and almost got hit by a white car whizzing up our alley.”Josie
School routes
Nine comments raise children specifically, and several name the route to a particular school. This is the same concern residents described in our recorded interviews, arrived at independently.
“Turner St between Windermere and Lillooet was a relatively quiet stretch, used by residents or their visitors. With the recent changes to neighbouring streets it has become the major route for a large number of commuters trying to avoid Hastings traffic.”Maureen
On consultation, the comments do not agree
We want to be accurate about this, because it is the point the City is most likely to contest.
The comments do not tell a single story about consultation. Some residents say the barricades appeared with no notice at all. Others say notice went out, but covered something else. At least one commenter argues there was extensive engagement, and that it is too early to judge the outcome.
What recurs is not a claim that no process existed. It is that the process did not change anything.
“I have participated in multiple community engagement opportunities, and it is clear that the city did not take residents' needs into account.”Melissa
That is a harder criticism than an absence of consultation, and a fairer one. It can be answered. If engagement was run, the City can publish what it heard, what it changed in response, and what it decided to proceed with anyway.
About these counts. We read the 61 comments posted on the petition page and grouped them by the concerns each one raised. Most comments raise several, so the percentages overlap and do not total 100.
The categories are ours, not the commenters'. Someone else reading the same comments might group them differently. The underlying comments are public and you can read every one of them at the source and judge for yourself.
Excerpts are quoted briefly, with first names only as they appear publicly on the petition. We have not published surnames, addresses, or any detail beyond what the commenter chose to post.
Add yours
The petition captures a moment. What we need now is detail: which street, which lane, what changed, and when.
If the barricades have changed how you get home, get to work, or get your kids to school, tell us. With your permission we will publish it here and share it, so the people making these decisions have to read it.