Monday, December 3, 2007

Fighting For Transit, Highways, and Transportation Planning

Visiting our dear neighbourhood Benny's this afternoon to buy some lunch, I saw on the counter the flyer "Keep Translink Public" at the cash. Sometimes, life buries me and I don't hear all of the issues, and this is one I've missed.

Transportation Minister, Kevin Falcon, introduced Bill 43 October 23, 2007, and spoke about it the next day stating, "the amendments that are contained in Bill 43 will restore public confidence and accountability in TransLink."

NDP transportation critic, Maurine Karagianis, on the other hand says this is "the most insidious piece of legislation." She goes on to elaborate: "With the creation of this new TransLink board, they are giving a group of business appointees powers equal to a municipality: the power to increase property taxes, the power to reclassify business tax for the purpose of taxation, and they are giving them the power to land-bank. Certainly, privatization will be a huge component of this. You mark my words: if this board has no impediments to being put in place, they are going to look at privatizing SkyTrain and everything else that is built in future in the Lower Mainland."

These are some pretty heady statements and concerns. Balanced perspective often seems to be missing as we encounter these viewpoints that are being shared. On the one hand, any local transit rider acknowledges that there exist a large number of short-comings with the transportation systems, networks, and services available in the Lower Mainland. Whether you live in the depths of the city and want to see less impact from outlying commuters, or you're a commuter wishing for better and consistent levels of service and costs.

Any individual with a private and personal agenda wishes for their side to win. Looking at all the different groups supporting different initiatives below give a clear example of how we create our own divisions. However, we are a city, a society, a community, and the problems we face today were not dealt with historically with a view to the future needs of Vancouver. Here we are today trying to resolve many of them; let's not create more.

A real distrust exists toward business, and I'd be a first to suggest controls and monitoring be in place for accountabilities sake. Any businessman and entrepreneur acknowledges and recognizes the benefits they have experienced through creating relationships of accountability that helped them grow, manage, and navigate business successfully. So why not the transit system?

Where we are so concerned about the people losing their say, I wondered suddenly as I was about to jump on the bandwagon, how much say have we had so far with elected officials? Politicians make promises every six ways to Sunday in order to get elected. Can I trust them any more than a businessman?

As I pondered this I realized that the businessman has a lot more at stake. Planning transit decisions effectively must take into consideration a great deal of factors. Sometimes hard decisions have to be made that are less than popular. Lets face it, change and progress won't happen without some fallout that will displease some. The overall aim is to minimize that fallout and bring about the most positive impact and long-lasting change possible for the largest number of people - today's and tomorrow's.

Can business do it better than a politician? When I consider who stands to gain more through promises, versus who has more to gain through better management, I'm thinking I would go with business on this one. How I want to cover my collective butt, however, is to adamantly ensure that this support must come with accountability and customer service to the community it's core value and mandate.

Unfortunately, the worst example of this truth is the way Bill 43 got pushed through. Due to a self-imposed deadline by the Ministry of Public Transportation, the Minister, Kevin Falcon successfully pushed the Bill through at the end of November without any public debate. This does not mean that the fight is over, nor that the public voice will go unheard. This is the time to ensure that this new body acquiesces, becomes, and is an accountable body the public they serve.

Make a Difference - Get Involved:
Keep Translink Public
Rail for the Valley
Revive the Interurban
500 Buses by 2010
Car-Free Neighbourhoods

References:
TransLink Out of Service But Democracy Rides On, The Livable Blog, November 30, 2007
Critics line up against neo-Translink Bill 43, Georgia Straight, November 15, 2007
New TransLink board seen as 'erosion of democracy', The Province, November 1, 2007
TransLink Legislation: Falcon power grab to end local control, CUPE BC, October 25, 2007

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