Public meetings

I went to a public meeting years ago. It was about how to move the bus loop from the Lost Lagoon area of Stanley Park, because the buses had to turn left across bridge traffic coming from Lions Gate and the North Shore. In rush hour traffic this was almost impossible. So they were looking for ideas and input. Or so I thought.

the existing route

This was their proposed plan. They would run the trolly buses west on Georgia and instead of turning left across rush hour traffic to the present loop (at that time) beside Lost Lagoon, they would instead go into Stanley Park, beside the old pedestrian overpass and park along Pipeline Road. Then to return would have to go beneath the causeway overpass to go along beside Lost Lagoon and enter the causeway traffic onto Georgia Street at Chilco to head East.

This plan seemed to me to be very expensive, as so much work would have to be done to allow trolleys to make the entrance and exit. And also drivers would have to take their breaks at night within Stanley Park.

So.
I came up with a plan that I thought solved all the problems. I drew up street maps to show how it would work on large white boards. This was my proposed plan:

Have the buses take the right lane just as soon as they pass the junction where Pender merges with Georgia Street, and crosses Cardero. Then they would turn right, from Georgia onto Denman, causing literally no traffic slow down in rush hour. There is an existing small parking area there for yacht clubs but would only take a little more space for a bus turnaround. No interference with traffic at all.

my bus route proposal

And the best part is exiting. The bus would proceed south on Denman and make a left turn with the traffic light onto Georgia again to go East. As 99% of all the traffic coming north on Denman is turning left onto Georgia to head for the Lions Gate Bridge, there would be no traffic tension at all! Any right turns off Denman would have no effect on buses.

The cost of doing this change would be to take a little more space from the existing grass area and perhaps the yacht parking lot to build the turn-around loop. A few poles for trolley wires, some new pavement and that's it! And people intending to go into Stanley Park would exit right onto the Seawall! And it was only yards away from the planned loop.

I presented this plan to all concerned at a meeting in the Denman Auditorium. The room was crowded and after I had finished, almost everyone who heard it agreed that it was an excellent and smooth way to go without causing an expensive taxpayer outlay.

As the meeting concluded, the city engineers in charge decided to recap what they heard at the meeting. They said they heard that everyone liked the ideas of the city to have the buses go into Stanley Park. The crowd roared their disagreement. Mostly stunned at such a conclusion. Many people asked how they could have heard that when their proposal had been booed at the time! Many people were members of Friends of Stanley Park and had paid close attention. So the panel simply thanked us and left.

A few years later they rebuilt the the whole causeway overpass to allow the installation of trolley wires and height for the large buses to get under.  It was opened in 2003 and I have no idea how much it cost.

The point of all this is to suggest that public hearings are nothing more than public relations exercises that have little purpose and NO effect on the pre-embedded plans that corporations want to do. And they know that they can say whatever they like afterward without contradiction. I am not saying my plan was the ultimate, other speakers had other ideas. I am saying that they just didn't care what people thought. It was a predetermined 'go ahead' long before any public input was called for.

Keep this in mind if you attend any public hearings on the Enbridge or Kinder-Morgan pipeline proposals.


(pics from Google Earth, click to enlarge)

BC Day

The British Columbia Day Act was first introduced to the Legislative Assembly in 1974 by the NDP Government. The aim of the Bill was to create a statutory holiday on the first Monday in August to recognize the pioneers in the province. The act gained royal assent in 1996.
There are a number of symbols of British Columbia. These include the Steller's Jay, the Pacific Dogwood, jade, the Western Red Cedar and the provincial tartan. Two important symbols of British Columbia are the flag and the coat of arms.

Our province is huge, 944,735 square kilometres (364,800 sq mi). Larger than Washington, Oregon and California combined! Most of which is mountains, rivers, lakes and grasslands that can offer solitude or success if one works for it.  Splendor sine occasu has been our motto - "Splendour without Diminishment." And Tourism BC sells it as Supernatural British Columbia! The bottom edge of BC is perhaps the last remaining population center that has unexplored wilderness within a hundred miles to the north.
Our Fraser River travels over 1,375 kilometres (854 mi) through glacial mountain ranges and secluded valleys to empty 800,000 gallons (3550 cubic litres) of fresh water per minute into the sea at Vancouver.

Lytton is often the hottest place in Canada and the Vaseux Lake region of the Okanagan has the only arid biotic zone (desert) in Canada! While our North becomes Robert Service country and can be the coldest in Canada. Our regional variety is wonderful. You can often drive northward in your car without seeing another human for hours yet a wonderfully healthy wildlife abounds.
Our Capital, Victoria, continues to be a little bit of pleasantly quaint, 'Jolly Old' past. While Vancouver symbolizes the future and has become the envy of the world.

The pioneering spirit has always been strong in BC since the many hardy explorers and gold rushers traveled to our interior, seeking wealth or land or the fortune of settlement. Some walked over mountains and traversed rivers after gold or silver or exploration. Loaded mule trains once went North daily full of hard tack, miner's picks and dreams and even included imported camels at one time as pack animals for the prospectors. And when BC needed to join Canada, the railroad building was blasting through solid rock cliffs and gorges and progress was measured in months and sometimes by lives lost. Only men of inner strength and sturdy character need apply. The weathered reminders of homesteads abound in BC, softly settling into history. And the Indian names remain, the Caribou, the Chilcootin and the Kootenays. The true wild west was here too when our grasslands were full of cattle and ranchers riding their range. The Douglas Lake Cattle Company was once the world's biggest ranch! Our lumber industries took advantage of vast coastal forests.
Today we have cosmopolitan cities of vibrant people full of industry, high tech and promise on our southern borders, to the enchanting loneliness of our north and our seacoast fjords with rugged folks content in their solitude and independence. There is something for everyone in BC. 

BC Social Credit governments established BC Ferries and we once had more ships in BC than the Canadian Navy. The old BC Electric company became BC Hydro and guaranteed perpetual power for British Columbians. BC Rail was the result of taking over the Pacific Great Eastern Railway and was begun to open up our sparse interior and offer service to the people of small towns. BC was growing, exciting and proud.

The present population of BC is a marvelous mix. Not a melting pot, but a mosaic of varied cultures who have arrived on our shores seeking peace and prosperity. And contribute to the interesting diversity of our society. We should all be thankful that we do live in a land of plenty, with freedom and hospitality and the ability to follow any pursuit we wish.

Today that pioneering spirit is still active, with modern British Columbians ready willing and able to continue making our province great and progressive into the 21st century.
But it is a heritage that must be carefully guarded and shepherded into the years ahead with the interests of BC and our people first and foremost.
We are a vibrant, industrious and intelligent people who can continue to exploit the promise of the future and build our province into a supernatural place of pride and opportunity.
Join in, all are welcome.

Happy BC Day!

Suspicious old me ....

A while ago, the BC Liberals weren't even considering selling the BC Liquor Distribution Branch. Now they are suddenly scampering to get a deal done before they are thrown out of office. Why?

Freedom of Information documents released Thursday by NDP critic Shane Simpson suggest that the government had no interest in selling its liquor warehouses - one in Kamloops, one in Vancouver - until Exel Logistics presented a plan to MLA Shirley Bond during a golf game. And Liberal insiders Patrick Kinsella and Mark Jiles lobbied several other government ministers on behalf of Exel relating to privatization of the province’s liquor distribution system.

Keep in mind that BC is one of the largest importers and distributers in North America for liquor, about 900 million dollars a year! A very rich plum to control for a private company. Sales per capita in BC are far above those of Quebec and Ontario.

Kinsella served as an adviser to Premier Christy Clark during her successful leadership run. He was also Gordon Campbell’s election campaign manager in 2001 and 2005. (Yes, the same Gordon Campbell who has run up huge bills in London as High Commissioner to Canada.)

Exel has a monopoly in Alberta where it is said liquor prices are 30% higher than before privatization. 

 Shirley Bond wrote in August 2011 to Exel; “At this time, the government is not considering making any changes to the existing liquor distribution system.”

So what changed their minds?  Yet here in July 2012, she is saying, "We need to get this done." As if SHE thought it up for the good of the people and as if there is some urgency in handing a private company millions of dollars. Well what can be made of this?

The BC Liberals,  seem to be shepherding the process so a deal can be contracted by March of 2013, only 10 WEEKS before an election! Where in all likelyhood, and probably partly because of this deal, they will get thrown out.

Adrian Dix has already said the NDP can't work wonders and tear up legitimate contracts. (Yes, I recall the BC Liberals doing just that a few years ago, but we're talking about integrity here.) Yet that doesn't mean that Christy Clark and the cabinet members involved in selling away assets wouldn't be susceptible to criminal investigation and charges, for ignoring their fiduciary responsibility in handling BC assets.

Suppliers who sell in both B.C. and Alberta, where Exel Logistics handles distribution in that province, said supply and delivery costs are double in the neighbouring province than what they are in BC. That has to reflect your retail costs.

 If one had a suspicious mind to nefarious deals, and I do, one could think there is a payoff built into the process somewhere. A payoff that would not exist with a new government who would be unfriendly to the likes of Kinsella et al. So in order for someone to collect that secret fund, or commission, or payoff, or graft, or bribe, or finders fee or whatever you want to call it, the deal would have to be in place before it could be rescinded by an NDP government.

Suspicious minds are built over a length of time or by a series of events that don't make sense. Is there some reason why anyone would NOT be suspicious of anything these Liberals do? Shirley Bond had a meeting with an Exel official at a golf event in Prince George. After which it was a go to sell off more BC assets. Isn't that the exact method mafia boss John 'the Teflon Don' Gotti used to avoid planted police microphones and FBI surveillance? By meeting his mob buddies on open golf courses? It remains to be seen how slippery these BC Liberals are, but taking a cue from our former Premier, pretty slippery.

You can't wonder why I am suspicious.

Just sayin'.

Nothing there. No worries.

The room:
Anyone see anything?
I don't see anything.
There's nothing in this room.
By the way, where's Christy?
She must be out somewhere.
Yeah, photo opping.
Well, we might as well go.
Yes, nothing here.
Right, nothing in the room.
Okay.

Shut it down quick! Truth is showing!

This is the Enbridge Pipeline spoof by Dan Murphy that the Province Newspaper pulled from their website immediately after an Enbridge person called them to complain about it. I guess we know who the major Vancouver newspaper takes its orders from. It is actually hilarious!



You can embed your very own copy of this video into your website or blog too, by just cutting and pasting the following code into your html ..... please pass it on ......

 <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eZrr-4DCZL8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I'm not Lisa.

I'm not Lisa, my name is Julie
Lisa left you years ago
My eyes are not blue
But mine won't leave you
'Til the sunlight has touched your face
                                    popular song by Jessi Colter from her album, An Outlaw.

Somehow it seems to fit. You try to pretend something is the same but it has changed. The song is about human nature. About the inability to face a disappointing situation. It seems to me that many British Columbians are struggling with this malaise right now. Trying to simply put food on the table and forcing themselves to believe things are not that bad, but they don't want to be told.

What I am trying to say is, I am telling you. And all the posts here are telling you that the BC Liberals have changed the lives of all of us. And we have to accept and face it. Perhaps it has not affected you just yet, but it will, and may be irreversible if we allow it to go on. 

But I am not an NDPer. I do not vote NDP. And having said that, I am not a BC Conservative either. Or a Liberal. Or any other underground cellar plotting party. Although I noticed once that Richard the Troll of the BC Rhinoceros Party got more votes than many of the mainstream party candidates.  IF you can even call the current crop of MLAs main stream these days. They behave like fringe parties raping a Third World country! And have a 'what's in it for me' mentality.

And the Outlaw idea fits too. It seems to me that the BC Liberals are working against the people of BC, not for us. The legislation and the rules and laws brought in seem to be hurting British Columbians instead of helping them. Only favoring a select few. And like outlaws, money is the driving force. Ethics and honesty left you years ago. Along with Lisa.

So how can one judge these people and organizations that want political power now? You of course, can only assess them on their recent actions. Christy Clark is bludgeoning her way straight ahead, pretending there never even was a Gordon Campbell, all the while ignoring our salmon fishery being destroyed by foreign owned fish farms. All the while sucking up to Harper's Enbridge tar sands oil pipeline which has the ability to destroy pristine wilderness forever, (Valdez, Alaska has still not recovered, and Exxon hasn't even paid all their fines) in favour of Alberta oil exports to China. All the while ignoring the BC Rail train robbers who took the whole train! Christy Clark continues stomping out bush fires right and left and pretending nothing is wrong. Christy, the elephant in the room is you and it is 6 million dollars wrong!

What about the BC Conservatives? Well they have been suspiciously quiet, but they have not been attacked seriously by those in power. John Cummins, ex MP, now an MLA and leading the disenchanted right, just smiles and mumbles he would do it better. Hmm, I wonder if he would admit that most of Canada thinks the Brian Mulroney inquiry is the biggest embarrassment we've ever had?
What are Cummins' ties to Steven Harper and his disassembly of our environment laws with Bill C38? And yes, that bill hurts BCers because it clears the way for Alberta to sell its oil to the Chinese without concern or real input from British Columbians. The BC Conservatives have little to go on and we have to guess what they would really do. But hoping is not good enough, is it? The BC Conservative party seems a potential vehicle for fleeing Liberals to hide in.

And the NDP. Yes, they do have a track record. But chanting Fast Ferries is getting old, no one remembers the melody anymore. How long can the Liberals dredge up weathered scare tactics? Adrian Dix is also keeping quiet, preferring so far to edge into the campaign slowly and without hyperactivity. Clever of him. He is trying to look serious like a leader. And what about schooling, health care and unions, all NDP favorites. UBC constantly complains about the education level of students entering higher studies as incompetent to move ahead. Can we do better? Our health care presently is second to none, because of the people practicing the on-the-ground jobs. Unions? Dave Barrett passed back-to-work legislation. Would an NDP party governing BC have a deleterious effect on the people of the province? Or a positive one? It IS about the people who live here.

I suppose one has to look at the immediate past of BC politics and ask what gains we have had with the present government. And then ask what effect they have on you personally. Seems the only thing to me is the fact that everything is judged with a dollar value today. 

No one seems able to account for any of our tax dollars and it is almost like we are starting out to pay for anything new as if it needs all new dollars. As if there is no General Revenue. The new Port Mann crossing tolls will likely be about $4.00 per crossing. So a guy going to work 5 days a week into Vancouver, is going to have a $160.00 hit every month! That's nearly 2 THOUSAND dollars a year. A difference maker in your enjoyment of life and support of a family. It is not always about dollars. It should never be about greed.

I still have trouble with this because I am old enough to remember old WAC Bennett proudly saying, "No more tolls for British Columbians."

My eyes are not blue
But mine won't leave you
'Til the sunlight has touched your face, and there are thousands of voters out here who are waiting and watching and wondering if any sunshine is ever going to touch their faces. Or the faces of any MLAs. So far, with the present people in power, it looks like rain!
The only ones I hear saying how prosperous we are are those shareholders with a profit agenda or the heads of greedy corporations, most of them foreign owned, enjoying their tax reductions while that guy crossing the Fraser every morning to make a buck is paying for it all.

A change is needed. A big change. We have to face our situation. We have done it before. We have to get back to province building and consider the future of British Columbia, FOR the people of BC. The world is going to get harder to live in in the future, we need to gather and hold on to our resources and quit selling them off. Sometimes I feel like we have been raided and robbed and the train robbers are just waiting around the next bend for more.
And that is just wrong. I want to be proud of my province.

Sometimes we need to throw the outlaws out and start over again. Like cleaning under your sink.

Lisa left years ago. 

Presenting your all new Liberals for 2013

Now all with the proper student looks, full of smarts and intelligence and careful thought and cleverness. Exactly what you want in your government. Christy started it with her faux studious look (hoping to preempt Carole Taylor) and now they're all doing the dark rimmed glasses thing. All designed to fool you yet once again.

 The all NEW, 2013 lineup for BC Liberals!

NOT those old ones but the NEW studious, stupendous, serious, sexy, sensitive, somnambulent, sensational, stringent, sinless Liberals!

Vote for the all-NEW smart BC Liberals!

Trust us, we're the BC Christy Party.

 

The 'Look' from the Looker

 But ... oops ...

Even she has old ugly baggage.