{"id":427,"date":"2008-01-28T01:28:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-28T08:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/breckenridge\/?p=427"},"modified":"2008-10-25T22:00:44","modified_gmt":"2008-10-26T05:00:44","slug":"transit-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=427","title":{"rendered":"Transit Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was at the transit forum Wednesday evening, January 23rd<\/sup>. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The audience was solidly in favour of a light rail system out to <\/span>Chilliwack<\/span> along the old valley transit lines. The only problem, a rather large problem, is that this is not the philosophy of the provincial government which would rather increase the traffic struggling into <\/span>Vancouver<\/span>. Hopefully the provincial government, particularly Transport Minister Kevin Falcon, will open their ears to listen to common sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

And no, making that statement is not a result of using mind altering substances. With changing economic circumstances reality can only be denied for so long. Maybe I should have said \u2013 hopefully before it is to late \u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

The bad news is that it was made clear that the province requires \u201cpartnerships\u201d if municipalities wish provincial funds for projects. What that mean is that cities must be willing to invest\/spend their own money on any project they seek provincial funds on.<\/span><\/p>\n

This \u201cput your money where your mouth is\u201d policy is not unreasonable, even though it unfortunately bodes ill for Abbotsford in getting provincial funding. I say bodes ill because with the financial debt burden city hall has assumed with Plan A, there is not likely going to be any funds available to \u201cpartner\u201d with the provincial government. <\/span><\/p>\n

Leaving infrastructure unbuilt and provincial funds not coming to Abbotsford thus rendering the \u201clegacy\u201d of Plan A all the missed opportunities for provincial funds and needed infrastructure unbuilt.<\/span><\/p>\n

I do have one suggestion for a novel approach by Abbotsford city hall to transit planning vis-\u00e0-vis the ever lengthening commute to work in <\/span>Vancouver<\/span> \u2013 attract business and good, well-paying jobs to Abbotsford. I know this is a major policy and behaviour change \u2013 to encourage rather than discouraging and not raising barriers to businesses bringing jobs to Abbotsford.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who knows, such a rational response may even penetrate the provincial government and encourage them to think and plan about commuting and traffic flow rather than blindly slapping down more highways and byways.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was at the transit forum Wednesday evening, January 23rd. The audience was solidly in favour of a light rail system out to Chilliwack along the old valley transit lines. The only problem, a rather large problem, is that this is not the philosophy of the provincial government which would rather increase the traffic struggling into Vancouver. Hopefully the provincial government, particularly Transport Minister Kevin Falcon, will open their ears to listen to common sense. And no, making that statement is not a result of using mind altering substances. With changing economic circumstances reality can only be denied for so long. Maybe I should have said \u2013 hopefully before it is to late \u2026. The bad news is that it was made clear that the province requires \u201cpartnerships\u201d if municipalities wish provincial funds for projects. What that mean is that cities must be willing to invest\/spend their own money on any project they seek provincial funds on. This \u201cput your money where your mouth is\u201d policy is not unreasonable, even though it unfortunately bodes ill for Abbotsford in getting provincial funding. I say bodes ill because with the financial debt burden city hall has assumed with Plan A, there is not likely going to be any funds available to \u201cpartner\u201d with the provincial government. Leaving infrastructure unbuilt and provincial funds not coming to Abbotsford thus rendering the \u201clegacy\u201d of Plan A all the missed opportunities for provincial funds and needed infrastructure unbuilt. I do have one suggestion for a novel approach by Abbotsford city hall to transit planning vis-\u00e0-vis the ever lengthening commute to work in Vancouver \u2013 attract business and good, well-paying jobs to Abbotsford. I know this is a major policy and behaviour change \u2013 to encourage rather than discouraging and not raising barriers to businesses bringing jobs to Abbotsford. Who knows, such a rational response may even penetrate the provincial government and encourage them to think and plan about commuting and traffic flow rather than blindly slapping down more highways and byways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-municipal","category-provincial"],"yoast_head":"\nTransit Forum - James W. Breckenridge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=427\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Transit Forum - James W. Breckenridge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was at the transit forum Wednesday evening, January 23rd. The audience was solidly in favour of a light rail system out to Chilliwack along the old valley transit lines. The only problem, a rather large problem, is that this is not the philosophy of the provincial government which would rather increase the traffic struggling into Vancouver. Hopefully the provincial government, particularly Transport Minister Kevin Falcon, will open their ears to listen to common sense. And no, making that statement is not a result of using mind altering substances. With changing economic circumstances reality can only be denied for so long. Maybe I should have said \u2013 hopefully before it is to late \u2026. The bad news is that it was made clear that the province requires \u201cpartnerships\u201d if municipalities wish provincial funds for projects. What that mean is that cities must be willing to invest\/spend their own money on any project they seek provincial funds on. This \u201cput your money where your mouth is\u201d policy is not unreasonable, even though it unfortunately bodes ill for Abbotsford in getting provincial funding. I say bodes ill because with the financial debt burden city hall has assumed with Plan A, there is not likely going to be any funds available to \u201cpartner\u201d with the provincial government. Leaving infrastructure unbuilt and provincial funds not coming to Abbotsford thus rendering the \u201clegacy\u201d of Plan A all the missed opportunities for provincial funds and needed infrastructure unbuilt. I do have one suggestion for a novel approach by Abbotsford city hall to transit planning vis-\u00e0-vis the ever lengthening commute to work in Vancouver \u2013 attract business and good, well-paying jobs to Abbotsford. I know this is a major policy and behaviour change \u2013 to encourage rather than discouraging and not raising barriers to businesses bringing jobs to Abbotsford. Who knows, such a rational response may even penetrate the provincial government and encourage them to think and plan about commuting and traffic flow rather than blindly slapping down more highways and byways.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=427\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James W. Breckenridge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-01-28T08:28:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2008-10-26T05:00:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James W. Breckenridge\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James W. 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