Voice director, Neil Powell, has an opinion on the replacement options too. This letter was also published in The Record, January 24, 2009.
=======================================================================================
It was almost two years ago that I wrote a letter to the editor regarding the, then FraserPort authority’s, idea of creating a new Island in the middle of the Fraser River for a Pattullo Bridge replacement and a container port. With the recent unfortunate closure of the Pattullo Bridge this issue is once again in the forefront in New Westminster.
I too have noticed a reduction in the morning traffic along E. 8th Avenue. In the afternoon though E.8th Avenue is a parking lot from Cumberland to Braid and Brunette with vehicles sitting idling and spewing more exhaust into our airshed.
So how do we solve these traffic issues when we build a replacement bridge and should Sapperton Island be considered as an option? In 2007 I encouraged, “our mayor and council to act within the spirit of our OCP in any and all future discussions regarding these sensitive islands.” I now read that they have asked, “TransLink to keep the Sapperton Bar option under consideration as part of future financial analyses.”
New Westminster’s Official Community Plan (OCP) tells us that the City has a desire, “for this parcel of federal land to be made into unserviced park (to maintain green viewscape)” (p.65). These islands, known as the “New Westminster Islands (Sapperton Middle Ground)” in the OCP, are described as a “sensitive environmental habitat” (p.44). These islands are given a special designation, “in order to preserve its scenic value when viewed from the rest of the City and for its valuable aquatic and wildlife habitat” (p.165). Two of the objectives of this designation are to, “Guide this area towards use as a natural conservation area” and to, “Preserve and enhance the natural environment” (p.165). We go on to read that any guideline issued shall be in accordance with the following guidelines:
1. Maintain a permanent circle of trees around the circumference of the Islands to protect
the fish habitat.
2. Where possible, accommodate log booms around the periphery of the Islands.
Once again I feel the need to encourage our City council to act in manner consistent with the vision found within our OCP. The idea that Option 4 would involve a tunnel from East Columbia Street at Cumberland, “under Cumberland to a portal on McBride Boulevard near Eighth Avenue,” can only be considered a pipe dream. Although it might seem as if the Sapperton Island alignment would divert traffic around New Westminster in reality it would just move it to an area where commuters don’t really want to be and this would just result in further shortcutting as they try to get where they really want to be.
I am heartened to learn that TransLink is firm in their resolve to have the new bridge tolled. This is consistent with the original tenets of the Livable Region Strategic Plan which calls for us to: 1. Protect the green zone, 2) Build complete communities, 3) Achieve a compact metropolitan region; and 4) Increase transportation choices. A greater Vancouver region-wide toll system should be considered. The technology exists to have variable rate tolls at different times of the day across an entire system. Congestion pricing such as this could be an effective tool in getting the most out of the Lower Mainland’s bridge and highway system and it would generate funding for capital expenditures. For example, transit options that are realistic alternatives to driving a car.
Let’s think through all the possible consequences of location, tolling, alignment with local roads, and access by cyclists and pedestrians as we plan this much needed replacement crossing.
- Neil Powell
New Westminster
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Pattullo Bridge - What to do? v.1.0
Well, with the recent closure of the Pattullo Bridge it seems everyone has an opinion on its replacement. Here is the first such comment. The following is a letter that Voice director, Paul Johansen sent to The Record and News Leader.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since the closure of the Patullo bridge (due to fire on the Surrey side of the structure), the traffic in New Westminster has immediately and dramatically improved: on Royal Avenue, McBride Blvd., Eighth Avenue and Tenth Avenue, traffic flow is good. I hope the Minister, in conjunction with New Westminster city officials, recognize this and have another serious look at "option 4" of Translink’s Pattullo Corridor Study that calls for the construction of the replacement bridge to be aligned with Sapperton Island and tie into United Boulevard, Lougheed Highway, as well as the freeway.
With Coquitlam's development plans and potential, and the current population numbers out their way, and the geographic size and strategic location of our neighbouring municipality, in comparison to New Westminster, they are far better poised to receive expanded traffic volumes. For 71 years, New Westminster has hosted major regional traffic flows, but we do not have and will not have adequate ability to accommodate the added traffic capacity of a six-lane bridge. Keeping in mind that New Westminster will still have the Alex Fraser and Queensborough volumes and will likely continue to handle much of the Port Mann traffic, in terms of forward-thinking, good regional planning, in order to maximize limited resources and address current and future commuter needs, the new bridge should not re-connect with an already congested city; it should be positioned to optimize future commercial and residential growth patterns. The current traffic flow on 20th street also needs to be addressed. I would like to thank the New Westminster City staff for raising the Engineering Report on the Pattullo Corridor Study -- Preliminary Findings and Next Steps at their previous City Council meeting. This is a subject that warrants the immediate attention of all New Westminster citizens.
Paul Johansen
New Westminster Resident
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since the closure of the Patullo bridge (due to fire on the Surrey side of the structure), the traffic in New Westminster has immediately and dramatically improved: on Royal Avenue, McBride Blvd., Eighth Avenue and Tenth Avenue, traffic flow is good. I hope the Minister, in conjunction with New Westminster city officials, recognize this and have another serious look at "option 4" of Translink’s Pattullo Corridor Study that calls for the construction of the replacement bridge to be aligned with Sapperton Island and tie into United Boulevard, Lougheed Highway, as well as the freeway.
With Coquitlam's development plans and potential, and the current population numbers out their way, and the geographic size and strategic location of our neighbouring municipality, in comparison to New Westminster, they are far better poised to receive expanded traffic volumes. For 71 years, New Westminster has hosted major regional traffic flows, but we do not have and will not have adequate ability to accommodate the added traffic capacity of a six-lane bridge. Keeping in mind that New Westminster will still have the Alex Fraser and Queensborough volumes and will likely continue to handle much of the Port Mann traffic, in terms of forward-thinking, good regional planning, in order to maximize limited resources and address current and future commuter needs, the new bridge should not re-connect with an already congested city; it should be positioned to optimize future commercial and residential growth patterns. The current traffic flow on 20th street also needs to be addressed. I would like to thank the New Westminster City staff for raising the Engineering Report on the Pattullo Corridor Study -- Preliminary Findings and Next Steps at their previous City Council meeting. This is a subject that warrants the immediate attention of all New Westminster citizens.
Paul Johansen
New Westminster Resident
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
All the best in 2009
To all our friends, members and supporters,
We wish you all the best in 2009 and we thank you for your support throughout the past year.
Voice New Westminster
We wish you all the best in 2009 and we thank you for your support throughout the past year.
Voice New Westminster
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Special Open School Board Meeting
As part of its school site selection process the Board of Education for School District No. 40 (
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 7:00 pm
City Hall – Council Chambers
An Important Notice for Residents of
The Board of Education for School District No. 40 (
Community Workshops are scheduled for the following dates:
Wednesday, January 14, 2009: 6:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Saturday, January 17, 2009: 10:00 am – 2:30 pm
The preferred option(s) will be presented at an Open House at a date to be confirmed following the workshops.
All events will be held at Century House,
PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUESTED
Please Contact: Barb Basden @ 604-517-6310 or bbasden@sd40.bc.ca
Friday, December 19, 2008
Interesting Articles in the Sun Regarding Enforcement of Municipal Election Regulations
Daphne Bramham has an item in the Sun today about a complaint laid against two BC cabinets ministers who endorsed municipal candidates. It is a follow up to an article a few days ago.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Santa Shops Sapperton
This Saturday, December 6th, from noon - 4pm, and Thursday, December 11th from 6-9pm visit downtown Sapperton, E. Columbia Street for family fun.
There will be festive roasted chestnuts, Cal's Christmas Karaoke, a Christmas tree sale by WesGroup Properties, a special appearance by Santa, gift basket draws, as well as special Sapperton promotions and passport shopping.
It promises to be a fun family time.
- Neil Powell
There will be festive roasted chestnuts, Cal's Christmas Karaoke, a Christmas tree sale by WesGroup Properties, a special appearance by Santa, gift basket draws, as well as special Sapperton promotions and passport shopping.
It promises to be a fun family time.
- Neil Powell
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
What's the Big Deal about the Influence of the DLC in Our Local Municipal Election
For all those who have been wondering what the big deal is about the influence of the DLC in our local municipal election, here is a fine example of what you can get with that sort of "support".
If you read Vaughn Palmer you will know why Voice New Westminster was formed. In short, it was formed to put the community first in all matters.
The NDP and unions as political bedfellows: Veteran insider tells all
By Vaughn PalmerDecember 3, 2008
The B.C. New Democratic Party's relationship with organized labour is under examination in court this month, thanks to some telling testimony from a long-time denizen of NDP campaigns.
The case involves the challenge to the election "gag law," the B.C. Liberal attempt to rein in advertising by unions and other third parties in the run-up to provincial elections.
In the effort to provide a rationale for the law, its defenders sought and obtained an affidavit from Brad Zubyk.
He's a 20-year veteran of B.C. political campaigns, mostly on behalf of left-of-centre parties.
Zubyk helped former NDP MLA Gregor Robertson win the mayor's office in this fall. He also worked for the B.C. branch of the federal Liberals in their campaign.
But the relevant parts of his resume for this case were his multiple efforts for the NDP, including the last provincial campaign.
"During the 2005 election, I was one of the senior people in the communications campaign run by the provincial NDP," Zubyk says in his affidavit. My official title was director of candidate support. This made me one of the core communications operatives in the NDP's campaign war room.
"During that time," continues the voice from the NDP war room, "the NDP ran an election campaign that was closely coordinated with the campaigns of major labour groups in the province.
"The unions' membership and spending was used as a resource to support our overall campaign and we exploited that resource to the best effect possible.
"The degree to which the unions put their resources at our disposal varied from union to union; however, the vast majority were supportive in some fashion."
He singles out the B.C. Federation of Labour, the Hospital Employees' , the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Canadian Office and Professional Employees.
The veteran backroom boy cited the myriad ways unions had worked hand in hand with the NDP, from coordinating "events and rallies" to placing anti-government advertising.
"The NDP would be advised of the advertising being run by the unions so that duplication of effort could be avoided," according to Zubyk. "This process was informal but constant. Because of the heavy advertising conducted by unions in support of the NDP in 2005, we were able to devote more of the NDP's own money to other campaign activities."
Heavy is right. A half-dozen unions spent almost $3 million on anti-government advertising in the three months leading up to the election.
Zubyk also told how the unions would tap their own membership lists "on behalf of and in coordination with the NDP."
They aimed to mobilize their members as campaign volunteers, but also as potential NDP voters.
He described how the unions telephoned their members early in the campaign in an effort to identify their political leanings.
Zubyk: "I know that unions came to know the political preferences of the members they called because that was the very purpose of the initial stages of the election calling campaign."
He also says: "One of the things that some major unions would do for the NDP during this campaign was to share contact information of their members with the party."
This quasi-merger of the lists would "permit more accurate and efficient use of voter identification resources and permit those [union] members to be targeted with messaging supportive of the NDP and designed to ensure that members supportive of the NDP vote on election day."
All this coordinated effort -- events, advertising, volunteer recruitment and voter identification -- amounted to parallel campaigns, one run by the unions, the other directly by the NDP.
"The NDP expected this coordination to permit the party's own resources to be freed up for investment in other campaign activities," Zubyk says.
"It was effectively the pooling of resources (financial and human) to serve the end of electing as many NDP candidates as possible."
He goes on to discuss the implications for public awareness of the role played by the unions.
"This represented a substantial benefit to the NDP without the unions ever having to make a formal donation to the party," Zubyk observes.
Preferable, he goes on to suggest, because formal donations "would have to be reported and would become known to the unions' members as a discrete figure."
Some union members who are not devout NDP supporters might even take exception to the size of donations.
But the main advantage was to lower the public profile of labour's assistance to the NDP.
Zubyk's testimony in this complicated case in B.C. Supreme Court won't surprise anyone who has followed the labour-NDP link closely over the years.
But the details do help illustrate why the Liberals moved to curb third-party advertising, while rejecting all calls to end their own heavy reliance on financial support from business and corporate interests.
vpalmer@direct.ca
If you read Vaughn Palmer you will know why Voice New Westminster was formed. In short, it was formed to put the community first in all matters.
The NDP and unions as political bedfellows: Veteran insider tells all
By Vaughn PalmerDecember 3, 2008
The B.C. New Democratic Party's relationship with organized labour is under examination in court this month, thanks to some telling testimony from a long-time denizen of NDP campaigns.
The case involves the challenge to the election "gag law," the B.C. Liberal attempt to rein in advertising by unions and other third parties in the run-up to provincial elections.
In the effort to provide a rationale for the law, its defenders sought and obtained an affidavit from Brad Zubyk.
He's a 20-year veteran of B.C. political campaigns, mostly on behalf of left-of-centre parties.
Zubyk helped former NDP MLA Gregor Robertson win the mayor's office in this fall. He also worked for the B.C. branch of the federal Liberals in their campaign.
But the relevant parts of his resume for this case were his multiple efforts for the NDP, including the last provincial campaign.
"During the 2005 election, I was one of the senior people in the communications campaign run by the provincial NDP," Zubyk says in his affidavit. My official title was director of candidate support. This made me one of the core communications operatives in the NDP's campaign war room.
"During that time," continues the voice from the NDP war room, "the NDP ran an election campaign that was closely coordinated with the campaigns of major labour groups in the province.
"The unions' membership and spending was used as a resource to support our overall campaign and we exploited that resource to the best effect possible.
"The degree to which the unions put their resources at our disposal varied from union to union; however, the vast majority were supportive in some fashion."
He singles out the B.C. Federation of Labour, the Hospital Employees' , the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Canadian Office and Professional Employees.
The veteran backroom boy cited the myriad ways unions had worked hand in hand with the NDP, from coordinating "events and rallies" to placing anti-government advertising.
"The NDP would be advised of the advertising being run by the unions so that duplication of effort could be avoided," according to Zubyk. "This process was informal but constant. Because of the heavy advertising conducted by unions in support of the NDP in 2005, we were able to devote more of the NDP's own money to other campaign activities."
Heavy is right. A half-dozen unions spent almost $3 million on anti-government advertising in the three months leading up to the election.
Zubyk also told how the unions would tap their own membership lists "on behalf of and in coordination with the NDP."
They aimed to mobilize their members as campaign volunteers, but also as potential NDP voters.
He described how the unions telephoned their members early in the campaign in an effort to identify their political leanings.
Zubyk: "I know that unions came to know the political preferences of the members they called because that was the very purpose of the initial stages of the election calling campaign."
He also says: "One of the things that some major unions would do for the NDP during this campaign was to share contact information of their members with the party."
This quasi-merger of the lists would "permit more accurate and efficient use of voter identification resources and permit those [union] members to be targeted with messaging supportive of the NDP and designed to ensure that members supportive of the NDP vote on election day."
All this coordinated effort -- events, advertising, volunteer recruitment and voter identification -- amounted to parallel campaigns, one run by the unions, the other directly by the NDP.
"The NDP expected this coordination to permit the party's own resources to be freed up for investment in other campaign activities," Zubyk says.
"It was effectively the pooling of resources (financial and human) to serve the end of electing as many NDP candidates as possible."
He goes on to discuss the implications for public awareness of the role played by the unions.
"This represented a substantial benefit to the NDP without the unions ever having to make a formal donation to the party," Zubyk observes.
Preferable, he goes on to suggest, because formal donations "would have to be reported and would become known to the unions' members as a discrete figure."
Some union members who are not devout NDP supporters might even take exception to the size of donations.
But the main advantage was to lower the public profile of labour's assistance to the NDP.
Zubyk's testimony in this complicated case in B.C. Supreme Court won't surprise anyone who has followed the labour-NDP link closely over the years.
But the details do help illustrate why the Liberals moved to curb third-party advertising, while rejecting all calls to end their own heavy reliance on financial support from business and corporate interests.
vpalmer@direct.ca
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
