Public Arte

The City of Vancouver Art Department Somebody has bought a piece of public art for 450 thousand dollars.  $450,000.00.  As usual they didn't tell you, the taxpayer, they had so much extra money around and bought it in secrecy. Now they need a place to put it. Oops wait, go back .... insert your own words for 'public art'.

Local artist Lyse Lemieux says, "This is a commissioned piece, the stakeholders have been consulted, so what they are suppose to be doing is accepting and saying yes to the fact that yes we want public art in that spot." Commissioned? To me that usually spells out, 'friend of somebody' with a finders fee commission.
The art is 15 meters tall and could seat 150 people at a time. Does this look like an accident waiting to happen to you too? Seems to me the cost of making this spindly cheering-section safe would be about the same as the initial purchase price.

They propose to put these bleachers at Emery Field in Hastings Park. The Park Board Artsy-Craftsy department wants it there. They love it. Are these people all on day passes from the institution?
But due to some backlash, because no one knew about it, they have deferred putting it there. Not buying it, that's a done deal, just wondering what to do with the thingy. I would cheer for 'Away'.
Couldn't the Parks Board have spent a little money to cut away all the blackberry bushes that have taken over grassy sections in our parks?

So here it is, sorry but I couldn't resist that urge to add my own wording, but perhaps they could talk to Best Buy and IKEA and get them to pay the 450K?

Or maybe they could integrate it with the PNE rides, and make it like an old Gahan Wilson cartoon where you climb up to the top and then fall off into oblivion? Or into one of those cheese shavers they have at Olive Garden?

Is whomever approved this the same guy from TransLink who loved and bought the $100,000. Main Street Poodle? A seven foot Dog on a Stick that woofs forevermore at Main and 16th?
By the way, why isn't the poodle in Shaughnessy, there are only rescue dogs on Main Street.

Poodlesicle?

Look on the bright side, at least it doesn't poop.
And let's hope the IKEA bleachers are easier to assemble than one of their mystic chairs.
Make your own fun comment about best buy.

They have ways of spending our money.

Transit figures - basic UNmath?

So something doesn't quite add up here. 
The Translink Mayor's Proposal trying to get you to vote YES to spend 7.7 BILLION dollars for transit in the Vancouver Metro area, implies that the Federal government will kick in about one third of the costs for our transit system. (BC Provincial government to also do a third?) My basic math says that's about 2.3 BILLION dollars from the Feds. And that is not just for BC, it is for the Vancouver Metro area. Meaning TransLink, even if they are trying to avoid that thought connection.

try to find the mistake

But wait! The Federal government just announced their future spending budget for public transit. (after selling off shares of GM to get a balance) For the transit portion of the Canada budget, this is what they say: Their spending for Canada, (every province and three territories) starting in 2017 they will designate 750 MILLION dollars over two years and then 1 (one) billion.
This spending on public transit is for ALL OF CANADA!


If the federal Conservatives are re-elected this fall, the funding would be split amongst big cities and start to flow in 2017, at $250 million, rise to $500 million in 2018 and double again to $1 billion a year in 2019. (did you know that the cost of just tearing down the old Port Mann bridge is $250 million?)

So where does that leave BC? Vancouver Metro, expecting 2.3 billion from the Federal Government? Apparently Toronto which also has a major public transit proposal in the works, is ecstatic about the budget. Ottawa is also expecting lots of the dole too. And we haven't even heard the usual whining from Quebec yet.

So you KNOW that means they will get the lion's share of it. Keep in mind too that the Feds, even though they are suffering loss of public support over the Conservative government's indifference to the oil spill in BC, also just closed down another Coast Guard Station! And you are expecting them to give us 2.3 billion of a 1.750 billion budget? The Conservative's map west of the Rockies only says, 'There be demons here.'


Does anyone in BC except Jim Pattison, the BC Liberals and the so called Mayor's Council believe WE will get ALL the money the Federals have earmarked for transit?  Right through to 2019? UNmath if you do.
If the money were allocated on a per capita basis, B.C.’s share would be $32.5 million in the first year, $65 million in the second, and $130 million once the fund reaches the $1 billion mark. That's 227.5 Million. No, I'm not confusing Ms with Bs. But the TransLink people might be. Perhaps they are riding their own Skytrain up in the clouds if they think the Feds are going to give them 2.3 Billion with a B.
Expect them to toss us $500.00 for more bike lanes in Kerrisdale. Wide enough to accommodate those people's trikes.

 
This is basic UNmath folks, you NEED to vote NO to TRansLink in spite of their spending 5 million on spin and send them all back to the drawing boards, and ask them not to eat their crayons this time!

VOTE NO!

TransLink - One third?

Actual Ballot

So here it is, finally, the ballot you've all been hearing so much about. The ballot that the Mayor's council is promoting for your Yes vote. The one that they have every breathing person they can solicit talking about. 
Just look at the wording and see if you agree with me that it is totally vague! And what is on this ballot that wouldn't be considered as the normal way of the corporations and government entities to do the people's business?  

It is as if they were so afraid to actually tell you what they wanted to do that they are now trying desperately to HIDE what they will do. It is to me, like they all got together and said, whoa, wait a minute, if we really make it clear they'll vote no! We need to discombobulate the public. They'll want closer inspection of that 7.7 Billion if we are too detailed. Better to generalize the whole thing and then get our shills to generate their own concept of what will happen, whether it is true or not!

Read for yourself - - - 

Do you see anything on there that wouldn't be on a progressive transit plan anyway? Did we need all that 6 million dollars of YOUR money for TV advertising and constant radio spots? Did we need to denigrate Jim Pattison's respectible reputation just to explain it all? Do we need every TransLink and BC Government insider to pimp this document? 

Are you any wiser? Except to know that this a plan that should have been in place WITHOUT a single additional penny from the taxpayer? Do you now know who this mysterious secretive Board of Directors are from TransLink? Do you know their names? Are you smart enough to know why we need TWO CEOs for TRansLink?  Do you now know who forms Jim Pattison's committee? Do you know their names? And do you believe that the present TransLink Management Carnival would even reveal to the Mayors how the spending is going so far?

Do you agree that the BC Liberals have totally NO control over what rightfully belongs to the people of BC? 

Add bus service? Maintain roads? Annual independent audits? There's a joke, how many audits have been hidden by this government in the past? Build a new Patullo bridge? Okay, let's do it, but how much is it going to cost everyone living south of the Fraser? 7.7 Billion? How about a price on that bridge alone? Yet more tolls by a government that has us already trillions in debt? We know now that the old Port Mann Bridge cost more to tear down than build it!
Build rapid transit along Broadway? What to where? One more bus to Arbutus Street? 
Make more bicycle lanes? Close Burrard Bridge completely so kids can meander on their tricycles? Where is the clarity?

If you think this hazy 'plan' is worth 7.7 BILLION dollars, you need to vote your mind. Clouded though it is. And we all know that by the time we face cost over-runs and politicians fondling that warm money it will likely be 14 billion before it ends. 35 cents a day? Try 35 dollars a day!

But if you are wondering how often and for how much you can be spun into paying more and more to these vagaries then you NEED to vote NO. Not a single one of those who are lined up to sway you mystically while sneaking their slender fingers into your pockets are deserved of getting this tax.
They all need to go back into a locked room and not allowed exit until they come up with something the public can trust. This looks like maybe 1.1 billion to me for this whole plan and the rest simply disappears. As usual. Is that okay with you?

I don't trust this incompetent lot with the wherewithall to think of a plan for BC's future transit, whether we expect a two million more imigrants or not. I guess they should be forewarned that it might be more crowded here than wherever they are coming from. This is perfection of government tricks. The BC Liberals can simply say, YOU voted for this, don't blame us. Even Jim Pattison can say, my job was to make sure TRansLink got that money, not how they spent it! Perhaps it is time for we taxpayers to demand due dilligence when spending OUR money.

Take back your government folks, send a harsh message to the yes screamers and let them ask for your vote next time. What really counts is YOU!

Vote Now and Vote NO! 

Now for the NO vote?

So they scammed Jim Pattison to be involved in TransLink's business. Strictly an image trick to get a yes vote?


Well there can be only more questions in his involvement ....
Can Jim Pattison have input on how the 7.5 billion is spent on the so called Mayor's Transit thingy multi-projects, otherwise known as the TransLink Transgression?
NO is that answer. Pattison's involvement is only to guarantee that this BILLIONS of taxpayer's  dollars (yours) once collected, doesn't go into that cesspool of the Provincial Government called 'General Revenue'.  He has virtually NO SAY in how or what it is spent on.
(considered with great respect to the man who brings us so much good food)

Say you give TransLink 7 billion of those dollars, and they say they are going to buy old Ferris Wheel carriages as the new seats for Skytrain, Pattison's only input is to make sure TransLink actually gets that money and not Christy Clark, or Todd Stone or Bill Bennett or Rich Coleman or any of those other Cabinet toadys with extra large inside pockets and lust in their eyes.

What they can say to Jimmy, is 'Okay Jim, thanks for your service, now take a hike, we have TWO CEO salaries to pay so butt out!' And those salaries alone take nearly a million a year right there, and CEO number two is only interim, we might need a third CEO by next year! This is like a Charlie Chaplin movie!

You will get your mail-in vote package soon. There are many other items to think about before you send in your reply/vote. For instance; If the original proposal was to have a tunnel under Broadway for the Skytrain, and now it has been changed to what they are calling only 'more transit', along Broadway, then how does that influence the total cost?
Would it be sane and rational to figure out the basic costs of that tunnel that is now off the table and DEDUCT those costs from the whole project? Does TransLink expect to say, they need all that money anyway? Wha?
Keep in mind of course, that everyone wants a quick route to UBC and it seemed to imply that was what they were thinking, at first, but then along comes the info that it was only going to Arbutus Street anyway. Who planned this? Who proposed that and why weren't they questioned on what was going on in those luxurious board rooms? Did TransLink hire these Board of Director people away from a carnival?
And we are not even sure how many boards of directors there are and who they are! Or what their pay actually is?

7.6 BILLION! Did you know the new wider Panama Canal joining the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean is only going to cost 8 billion?  Are those tears of sadness or laughter?  Can we really connect two oceans for the same price as improved bike lanes?

If you think Jim Pattison is going to save everything think again.

Not to mention that this whole proposal is based on the future influx of more millions of people. They want YOU to make their arrival comfortable by paying everything for them now!
But their idea is all or nothing at all. We will punish you children if you don't give us what we want to play with.
Of course we want a new Patullo Bridge. Sure we want transport all the way out to Langley.  And more buses and Sea Buses running longer into the night. And Tap cards to work and fare gates that work.
So we have Jimmy as Captain Canada who will settle all your fears.  Or not. I thought he was smarter than to be blatantly used. Xena might have been better and she's fictional!  But maybe someone would listen when a banshee screams at them, they are not listening to the taxpayers!


What is fearful is that Todd Stone admits he can do nothing about BC Ferries and their excesses. We expect nothing more with TransLink. Or should that be nothing less? That is we expect nothing. We see that the BC Liberals are skulking away from this in the darkness of their own minds.

Are we going to fritter away 7.5 billion dollars on a few more buses, better empty bike lanes and mysterious transits from where to where? The public in British Columbia had their say in the HST fight, it is now time to rise again, and make our elected people AND our unelected people pay attention to what WE want.  We are tired of people who never faced a vote telling us to F.O.

If you ARE going to vote NO, then tell all your friends too. There is no need to trust people who have taken for their own gain in the past or to trust incompetents with that much money. They can easily go back to the drawing boards and decide exactly WHAT infrastructure project we need immediately and then force them to come to us and tell us what that one project would cost. ONE dollar at a time if need be.

Maybe we could start telling those millions or people planning to come here that they should shelter in place until this storm is over. It won't be long now.
The only thing remaining in this world of deception and distrust we call BC politics, is whether we will believe the vote count. Will we be sending our packets into oblivion? The only way to counter that suspicion, is to vote NO in overwhelming numbers.

This is important. Send in your NO vote.

VOTE NO!

VOTE NO!

VOTE NO!

previous post re TransLink -
  Heres-your-allowance-translink

Previous re Christy Clark -
  Four-years-of-Christy Clark

How it works in BC -
  BC ridiculous.com
 

Four years of Christy Clark

The BC Liberals are congratulating Christy Clark on her four years as Premier of British Columbia. They just revealed another 'balanced' budget for BC with lots of smiles of accomplishment.

"Hey, why have you got balanced in quote marks?  A balanced budget is a great thing. It's a good example of fiscal responsibility."
Yes I know, but a balanced budget means that whatever money you will get into the BC Government coffers, is all that the BC Liberals will spend.

"All good. So what's your point?"
You don't really get it, do you?  The BC Libs idea of balancing does not include paying anything on the BC debt! Deficit and debt are two different things in case you didn't know. The government estimates how much money is coming in as revenue, and write a budget accordingly, but they are not paying anything to reduce the amount of debt everyone in BC owes. The Provincial debt has gone from 33 BILLION dollars to almost 60 BILLION dollars this year, and they don't even calculate what they call 'contractual obligations'.  That is money we are destined to pay on contracts that various entities have with BC. Then the amount of BC debt tallies up at 100 Billion dollars.

As of 10:00 AM Feb 26, 2015

"WTF? Where you getting that info."
From respected organizations across Canada, many of which are worried about BC's credit rating.

The Tyee - The debt increased 4,877 billion last year, according to the release of Public Accounts for 2013-2014.
according to the July 15-released Public Accounts for the 2013-2014 fiscal year.

The debt increased $4.877 billion during the year.

- See more at: http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2014/07/16/BC-debt-hits-new-record-high/#sthash.AjGiI4Rk.dpuf

That is according to the July 15-released Public Accounts for the 2013-2014 fiscal year.

The debt increased $4.877 billion during the year.

- See more at: http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2014/07/16/BC-debt-hits-new-record-high/#sthash.AjGiI4Rk.dpuf

That is according to the July 15-released Public Accounts for the 2013-2014 fiscal year.

The debt increased $4.877 billion during the year.

- See more at: http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2014/07/16/BC-debt-hits-new-record-high/#sthash.AjGiI4Rk.dpuf

The Globe and Mail -  Under B.C. Premier Christy Clark the government may not be able to meet its commitment to balance the budget, as it’s obligated to under provincial legislation. If it has to renege on this commitment, it will be the third time in recent years that the Liberal government has had to undo balanced-budget laws in order to build up more debt. And build it up it does.

Consider this: when the Liberals came into power in 2001, the provincial debt stood at $33.8-billion. In 2011, it was estimated to be $45.2-billion. And we know it is only going to keep growing.

The Fraser Institute - British Columbia’s growing government debt remains hidden in the province’s capital budget - unnoticed by most taxpayers - and could pose serious fiscal challenges in the future. When the B.C. government says the 2014/15 budget is balanced, it’s referring to the operating budget, which attracts most of the attention. But the capital budget, where the province borrows large sums of money to pay for long-term infrastructure spending, is in deficit and is largely overlooked.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation - British Columbia’s government debt is growing by $209 every second!

Helmut Pastrick, the Vancouver-based chief economist at Central 1 Credit Union - Moody’s has fired a warning shot that British Columbia’s current credit rating of Aaa is at risk of being downgraded, unless the government becomes more aggressive in corralling its deficit.

Moody’s Investors Service has sounded the alarm by reducing its outlook on British Columbia’s debt to “negative” from “stable” in the latest warning signal on the fiscal health of provincial governments.
These are the so called business savvy people you voted in because you were afraid of the NDP spending? LOL

How does this happen? The BC Liberals are losing 40 million a year on the Golden Ears Bridge, and now are saying we'll be losing 89 million more on the Port Mann Crossing. And our estimates of LNG revenues have plummeted. Etc etc ad nauseum. Get the picture so far?

"Now you're just trying to depress me."
Aww, sorry, would you rather not face the facts?

"Of course, I voted for BC Liberal Christy Clark. I can't face anything that says I was wrong."
Now you're depressing me. As a Liberal voter what will you do about this?

"I'll go sit on my porch and whittle at a stick and say the BC Forest industry is healthy, the stick proves it."
Oh my.  Nothing in that "balanced budget" about using the $284 million surplus to pay down any debt.

"Shh. No one wants to talk about that." 
Didn't think so. Liberals still better than the NDP?

"I have to go now."
Thought so.

This whole exercise means something like this, IF you could apply it, but you cannot, you're not government - Your house payment is $1000. per month, car payment is $400. per month - your pay income is $1000, per month. So you have a 400 dollar deficit. What to do? Simple by BC Liberal calculations, just don't pay the car payment, see? All balanced. All is well.
And even if your income increases by 10%, and you have a $100. surplus, so take the family out to dinner in India.

 "Wait a minute, someone has to pay the car payment."
Oh, you came back. Sure they do, the taxpayers pay it.

"Aha, got you now, the BC Liberals under Christy Cark have not increased taxes."  
Well, it could be known as creative accounting. They don't need to add taxes, they only need to take away things you already have. Like your ICBC surplus that should have resulted in lower rates for British Columbians. See? And now YOU pay for it instead of them. Same thing really.

"Going now for sure."
And have yourself a really nice day. See you at the voting booth.



Life is good in Lotus Land. 




how-to-tell-if-your-accountant-is-a-crook

BC-debt-hits-new-record-high

Luster+bonds+dulls+under+weight+provincial+debt

Vaughn+Palmer+Debt+free+fantasy

Here's your allowance, TransLink.

The BC Liberal Government has approved another tax increase.
But with some sneaky little syntax changes. Transportation Minister Todd Stone said the revised question will describe the new tax as a Metro Vancouver Congestion Improvement Tax. It WAS called the Provincial Sales Tax in Metro Vancouver. But they took the word Provincial out so the idea now looks like former NDPer and present Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson seems to have caused all that congestion instead of any BC Liberals. All in aid of the next election so they can continue the old dog about the NDP going to tax you while the government hides its own taxations. They just had to make it political.
They also changed it to a plebiscite instead of a referendum.

Loose definition .... a plebiscite is a vote held on a given question but that is not binding, while a referendum is a vote held on a given question and whose result is legally binding.
Perhaps it was changed by our wondrous BC Liberals so the plebiscite results can be 'reinterpreted'. Or forgotten. Christy Clark and her minions do have a history of ignoring what the public wants.

The BC Mayors, along with the BC Liberals will float this new plebiscite in March, asking you to approve a new addition to your sales tax to pay for future transit operations. The question for voters will not mention TransLink, who has a sad record of funneling away scads of money the taxpayer gives them without any accountability whatsoever. It will be a mail-in ballot that Elections BC must receive before Friday, May 29, 2015.

On Global National news the other evening (January) Dawna Friesenon was saying that gas prices all across Canada were now under one dollar a liter! Aside from the fact that the Toronto News room doesn't even KNOW a British Columbia is out here, She should never have used the term, all across Canada. While gas is as low as 83 cents a liter in Calgary, Ottawa is 95., Windsor, 92., St. Johns, 96., they remain at $1.10 per liter in Vancouver! What's the connection?
Is it because TransLink is already adding 17 cents per liter to your Vancouver area gas prices?

So they'll be trying everything to get this gravy train rolling. Insiders who might have business access to proposed routes will be rubbing their hands together. Anyone with land nearby will be looking for a payout. Construction companies (non-union of course) favored by the powers that be (TPTB) will be happily looking forward to big government jobs again, where you automatically add 40 percent?
They will be already looking to hire foreign labor imports, as they are for the Site C dam right now! We never really know how these foreign workers get paid or how much they get paid because it is all arranged through snake-heads in other countries. Or whether they are allowed access to our Workers' Compensation and Health Care System for free etc. Of course the bought and paid for mainstream media (MSM) doesn't ask prickly questions like that.
Like when that Chinese owned mine in BC imported their own 300 miners from China because WE, the biggest mining province in Canada, 'wouldn't know how to do that kind of mining!'  Without a squeak of protest from BC Liberals.
And be prepared for poll after poll and spin that shows the Yes vote is winning.

So you will be asked to vote Yes for a tax increase. 

7.5 billion. Wow, so easy to disappear a few millions of that largess into eager warm pockets.

The proposals from the actual ballot:  (carefully NOT mentioning TransLink of course)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Mayors' Council has developed a transportation and transit plan called Regional Transportation Investments - a Vision for Metro Vancouver. The plan will:

• Add bus service and new B-Line rapid bus routes.
• Increase service on SkyTrain, Canada Line, SeaBus and West Coast Express
• 
  
• Maintain and upgrade the region’s major roads.
• Build a new Pattullo Bridge.
• Build rapid transit connecting Surrey Centre with Guildford, Newton and Langley.
• Build rapid transit along Broadway.
• Extend the region's cycling and pedestrian walkway networks. 

 A new Metro Vancouver Congestion Improvement tax would be applied as a 0.5 % sales tax on the majority of goods and services that are subject to the Provincial Sales Tax and are sold or delivered in the region. More detail can be found at www.mayorscouncil.ca.
Revenues would be dedicated to the Mayor's Council transportation and transit plan.
Revenues and expenditures would be subject to annual independent audits and public reporting.

Then you have the actual vote section.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Does this all seem a little more than vague to you?

- Add more bus service to crowded routes and add new routes in growing areas. This was the wording from the newspaper in January, it is NOT the actual wording on the ballot! Do you see a little spin too? Notice the word Vision dropped in there. Was that because Mayor Robertson, a former NDP MLA is now with the Vision party in Vancouver and Christie Clark wants him to be seen as anti-BC Liberal? A stretch? Maybe not.
Shouldn't BC Transit be doing that without another 7 billion? Haven't you seen those huge double accordion buses lumbering around the suburbs on lazy afternoons? Wouldn't you just expect that from good management?

- Increase service on existing vehicle routes? Isn't that again, a given?  But you need to review where you can make changes! No one believes TransLink is capable of that! I have a friend who drives Transit. He often has a 5 AM downtown run for 4 hours, and then a 3 hour break to get out to Surrey for another two hours! Then find his own way home. Is that good scheduling?

- Add 11 new B-Line rapid bus routes with fast and frequent service connecting town centers.  Note that this line is not on the ballot now even though it WAS in the newspaper.
Sure, be more specific about those please. Where to where and when to when? Of course you remember Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts drawing attention to the fact that the new Port Mann bridge and Highway went right past the fastest growing city in BC without so much as a bus stop! Planning or misplanning? Or just more TransLink dumbness? Or because at that time Dianne Watts was seen as a credible challenger to Christie Clark's evil empire?

- Maintain & upgrade the region's major roads. Shouldn't that be in BC Highways, city and municipal budgets right now? Our highways are maintained by 28 different private contractors. Do we really believe our fumblers in government or TransLink can control any of them?

- Build a new earthquake ready Patullo Bridge. Earthquake ready wording is out, but one would expect any new structure would be totally engineered as Earthquake ready,  just like they engineered the cables on the Port Mann bridge to not drop ice onto cars. Surely we need a new Patullo, and it could be built at exactly the same location beside the existing one with minimal cost and acquisitions of new land. And no one wants another toll bridge, based on how the BC Government handles fare collection contracts! You didn't know how they do that, did you?
The Golden Ears bridge is costing taxpayers 40 million dollars a year even if NO ONE EVER CROSSES IT! Why? Because we make a contract with a toll collection company based on traffic. And if no one drives across that bridge, we pay regardless! This is instead of simply hiring toll collection people of our own to sit there and monitor cars and cameras in an automated system! Would that cost about ONE million a year?

$200,000. per year pushers soon?

But the BC Liberals being so anti-union, think that if the toll collectors on the bridge organized and went on strike, no one would be able to sit in that room watching automated monitors!
(In February it was revealed that even the Port Mann is costing taxpayers even more millions because drivers are avoiding the tolls.)

Or the Fare Gate fiasco? TransLink's share of the 100 million cost is 30 million. Which they decided would recoup YOUR money by the year 2020. That's how much a few kids sneaking onto the trains were costing us!  Really? But then they decided that certain stations weren't even going to have these fare gates! After funneling yet more taxpayers' money away.

Even then TransLink paid way higher wages, hiring their own policemen where many get 100 THOUSAND DOLLARS a year to catch free riders! (Not mentioning why two transit cops shot a man to death in a Safeway way off TransLink properties)

Or the computer systems that never worked? etc etc ad infinitum ad nauseum. Add lost dollars!
And what about the Compass Card non deal? You just tap to get through the fare gate. Oh wait, the fare gates don't work. But the tap machines are there, not operational. Millions tossed into something else that just doesn't work. Would you give TransLink even MORE money to fritter away on scattered thwarted ideas.

woof

Of the 610 thousand dollars needed for 'art' projects around Vancouver. TransLink paid a portion of the $100.000 Main Street Poodle!  A seven foot dog on a stick! If you didn't laugh at these idiots you'd just cry.  Bring a shovel and a BIG bag to clean up the b#llsh#t under that pooch.

- Light rail in Surrey. Didn't Dianne Watts instigate this one and her replacement, Linda Hepner has committed herself to it? Even the 2.1 billion cost. Stating in a brash politic that she would build it herself if she had to? Go for it, Linda, but keep the money away from TransLink!
BTW, Skytrain can and should go through Surrey and out to Langley.

- Extend the Millenium Line tunneling along Broadway. This is what was in the newspaper before.
Now it only says Build rapid transit along Broadway.  How vague is that? No one is saying exactly what that means or where it goes? If there's no tunneling then can we knock out about 6 billion from the estimate?
Now here is a sticking point that goes way back to George Puil saving the Creme de la Creme in Kerrisdale from being on the wrong side of the existing Arbutus line tracks. (which would have cost about a BILLION less taxpayer dollars to the airport) And then INSTEAD of tunneling, they used cut and cover along Cambie street putting so many small businesses under. And they kept that plan SECRET until work started! No one answered the questions about tunneling that the bought MSM media did NOT ask but that the public was clamoring for!

Don't you want to ask EXACTLY where that new underground line (if there is one) is going to go FROM - TO?  Has this anything to do with a line out to UBC along the Broadway corridor? No. So far it seems to go from Commercial to Arbutus Street. The beer brewery and the bakery are no longer there! Not a priority of the BC Liberals as they have said. So why include an expensive local tunnel when a Fraser Valley Skytrain seems way more important and cheaper?
And now there is no reference to a tunnel at all, maybe they'll just ask the bus drivers to go faster?

-  Improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists. Does that need to be included at all? Do we need to spend more money for education that should be well covered already? Why not just tell those pedestrians that the yellow hand means they cannot cross! Even if the light is green for cars! Maybe get some of those 100K a year TransLink cops on the street corners. Funds like that should come out of the vast mysterious pool of government general revenue anyway?  And I am sure we could get Mayor Gregor to pay for more bike lanes out of his own pocket!

And lots of people believe TransLink missed the train completely by not designing into the original stations kiosks or small shops selling hot dogs or magazines or souvenirs. Wouldn't that have been a great source of revenue apart from mugging us taxpayers again and again? Of course this is in retrospect, but where is that forward thinking of the ones in charge?

The intent of this mail-in vote seems to be purposely foggy to me.  Something that could cost the average family $125 dollars more a year! But would allow for all kinds of manipulative freedoms in the mists of BC finance. And I am not sure I trust a mail-in vote. No real control. Too easy to simply lose the NO votes. How will we know EXACTLY how many ballots are returned?

And we know it will all become more political in the interim and eventually have little to do with what the public wants or needs and more to do with what politicians will look good at. The spin speeches for Yes are already being aired.

Happiness is warm money

Meanwhile we all also know that the 0.5 percent increase in PST will become 0.75, then 1.0 and so on. And your costs per year will go from $125. to 150. and beyond.
And the 7.5 billion dollar investment that TPTB fondled you into will probably double to 14.5 before everyone gets their share of the greed.

Shake hands with your neighbor and do the nudge nudge wink wink. At least it will let them know we are onto them.
Vote how you want, but vote NO.

Better to treat TransLink management like wayward children and give them a teeny bit of allowance first and see if they buy too much bubble gum.

Maybe the only thing underground are the facts?

But meanwhile get ready for a forced spin of 'information' and 'facts'. Already they have been telling us that the polls show that 52% of the people of BC want MORE taxes. Really? 
You're going to get hundreds more 'engineered' polls and disinformation along the way until you get your mail-in vote form. And you can bet virtually all of them will show the glee that British Columbians have in looking forward to more taxes to pay. That first poll is already being questioned by the few in the media with independent thoughts. Watch the succeeding polls carefully. 
And those business associations lined up to support the BC Liberals are hoping for appropriate handouts in the future. From that vast murky pool of taxpayers' money.

The intimation here is that if you don't vote this massive amount of money for TransLink to spend, you won't get anything at all. No bridges, no tunnels, no road improvements, no bus service. You will be punished! Is it the BC Liberal government once again, against the people of BC?

The onslaught is about to start, the dilemma for the BC Liberals is how they can keep away from the blame. But then they usually do. They want to be able to say, YOU people voted for this.
Just a reminder, we didn't vote for TransLink to take over everything, as we also didn't vote to sell out BC Ferries which the Liberal minister, Todd Stone again, now says he is helpless to do anything about their huge expenditures! None of his business was the quote. This is the guy looking after the Public interests folks.

And here is a bit more reasoning to the spinners who want to tax you more: the reason for all this is because they expect 1 million MORE people to populate the lower mainland in the next few years and we want them to feel nice and comfortable. Well here's an idea; Why not charge them as they arrive, say a $10.000. head tax, for comfort and easy transportation. But they tried that once, saying new Canadians needed to 'invest' in Canada. So immigrants bought million dollar houses and that was a good enough, investment. Sure.

Looks like more meetings in open parks to me, with no emails or notes or recorded minutes to come back and haunt them. Just sunglasses and closed mouth murmurs over the Starbucks cup.

Watch for a guy in an overcoat walking past another guy in an overcoat sitting at a park bench and the walking guy drops a newspaper into the trash that seems kind of too heavy for a newspaper, and which the guy on the bench retrieves as the first guy disappears. It's the elemental 'dead drop'. Spy stuff. Always check trash cans in parks, in case a few dollars slipped out of that brown envelope.

psst! pretend you don't know me.

Anything is possible when the BC Liberals want to do something like this without blame. Instead of our government punishing us, perhaps we should be punishing them.

VOTE NO!

addenda: Feb 9. even while the Mayors are lining up to spin for the yes vote, TransLink yet again proves their incompetence. Their Handy-Dart buses are stopped because the computer system is down and they say they cannot schedule without it! It will be fixed 'soon'. Who needs a computer system to schedule pickups for physically challenged people? You just get a big calendar with open squares and a pencil to write in the actions! Simple to people with brains, impossible for TransLink executives.

addenda2: Since this post, the costs have already risen by 200 million dollars for this! The spin is becoming huge from the Yes side who they say has already spent 2 million dollars, but refuses to say if that is taxpayers' money! Jordan Bateman says the No side has 27,000 dollars by donation so far. 
Poll today on News1130 was 9.7% for YES and 90.3% for NO. What will the future bring?


Sorry for making this so long, it wasn't intended as a thesis, but only to inform as more info comes to light. And yes I have inserted my opinion in here too, but the actual voting ballot is taken exactly off Elections BC vote page. Vote NO, fools cannot be allowed to keep running the monkey cage.




 

Riverview Lands

Went to an open house meeting about saving the Riverview Lands for the future. This area has been guarded for many years, created in 1904, and the local community recognizes it's continuing value.

It is full of quaint cottages, older grand buildings of superb architecture, many still functioning. The grounds are extensive and there are botanical gardens, unique trees and shrubs of a wonderful full growth. The stunning variety of mature trees alone (over 1900 and nearly 200 species, as one of the greatest collections in North America) are worth saving as an arboretum, and many are considered valuable as part of a North American gene pool.  Some buildings are run down and have been allowed to deteriorate badly, but they still hold an inner beauty.  Although with some work they could be pridefully restored to a grandeur of the past.

A meeting room in Coquitlam is full of large posters on easels, telling a story of the lands. Some headings were about a 'vision' for the future. But seemed a little like spin to me. I felt I was being manipulated. Many people there seemed to believe that some developers are drooling over the potential of the site for a massive condo 'development'.

The general feeling I had was that most of the crowd, and it was quite a crowd, thought that the deal was done already, with the powers that be.  One woman told me if they attempt to develop this site for the rich, she will be first to face the bulldozers herself.  Originally 1000 acres, 250 acres of this land was already turned over to developers without public consultation in the 1980s and is now condos.
Many people believe that returning some buildings to a mental treatment facility as it once was (Essondale) would have a profound effect, diminishing crime in the Downtown East Side where many are surviving only by theft and being preyed upon. Providing a secure facility with proper food and a clean environment, would probably keep these people from the tragic life they are now living. And the Colony Farm area across Lougheed Hwy could be revived as a wonderful local Market Garden farm to provide decent food at a low cost, and perhaps even pay for itself. 
Lots of creatures call the lands home too, including deer, bear, coyotes, bobcats, and 80 species of birds, many of them songbirds, rapidly disappearing throughout North America.

The lands are under the control of BC Housing, a branch of the British Columbia Liberal Government. When it was a treatment facility for the mentally ill, the neighboring Colony Farm lands were used to grow the food consumed here and still has that potential in a world where shrinking farmland is alarming.

So we walked around and read most of the posters, talked to several people about what they thought about it all. My consensus is that preservation of the site is high on everyone's list. Foremost in many minds is keeping the area public so these wonderful grounds won't end up as just another series of high rise buildings. I was there last summer trying to take pictures of some of the magnificent trees and a security guard drove up and told me the property was private and photographing the trees was not allowed. I was asked top leave.

I have one more reason to feel a dread - BC Housing is under the Ministry of Housing and MLA Rich Coleman. Good Grief, hope may already be lost. He wants to build 7000 more market houses on the site. Should we start following the money yet?

There are certain parts of our environment that supercede money and developers' greed, and it's places like Riverview Lands which have the potential and capability of nourishing the spirit. Riverview could be a precious refuge for our souls in the future.

We may have to fight for it first though ....

pavement or nature?

www.renewingriverview.com   You can comment here.

yearly treefest walk through    A fun event where you learn about the flora.

The Tyee - Riverview   about the buildings and history.