Urban Vancouver

7th Space interactive

With a title like that I would be surprised if it gets much attention.

The data comes from Greater Vancouver and the source is “Author: Eleanor M Setton, C. Peter Keller, Denise Cloutier-Fisher and Perry W Hystad : International Journal of Health Geographics 2008, 7:39″

But the main point I want to make is that if there is a real hard nugget of information in all of this, you need to be a scientist to understand it. I re-read it several times with a growing respect for journalists who make a living explaining scientific journal articles to the general public.  I think the message might be that how you get to work is not really significant in terms of pollution exposure (at least in the case of the one pollutant they looked at - nitrogen dioxide) as you spend longer at home and at work than you do in commuting. So we need to be concerned more about air quality at home and work than outside. Which makes me wonder who paid for this research. It is one thing if it is “pure research” - it is quite something else if the money came from an oil company or a car manufacturer.

It is also probably worth noting that if you run Google alerts, you come up with some quite unexpected sources.

Miro Cernetig, Vancouver Sun

Myth-busting finding comes from a memo to Metro Vancouver’s mayors

The surprising, myth-busting finding comes from a memo that has been supplied to the mayors of Metro Vancouver from the city of Vancouver’s engineering department.

It is indeed very odd that a memo from this source would go to all the region’s Mayors. Generally speaking, this kind of information comes from Metro staff - and usually to one of Metro’s committees first. And of course it is also being publicised - presumably by the same source sending it directly to Miro. Someone, somewhere inside City Hall wants to get this shoved into people’s faces and not lost in the bureaucracy somwhere.

Not that the information is not useful - but its provenance and source material can now only be checked by some diligent digging through the StatsCan and other sources cited (but not precisely indentified) in the piece.

- According to the latest population forecasts by both B.C. Statistics and Metro Vancouver, the city of Vancouver will continue to have the largest population of all regional municipalities by 2036 and 2041.

- According to analysis by the Vancouver planning department, the city continues to have significant development capacity to accommodate future population growth (mainly outside downtown).

- Between 2001 and 2006, the city had the largest employment growth among Metro Vancouver municipalities. Vancouver counted 37,500 new jobs during this time frame (accounting for 32 per cent of regional job growth). Surrey, Delta and White Rock combined for 26,800 new jobs (or 22.6 per cent of regional job growth) during the same period.

- Vancouver’s core accounts for 60 per cent of the region’s overall office inventory (data from Colliers International).

- According to 2006 census data, Vancouver has about 400,000 jobs or 34 per cent of all jobs in the region. Surrey has the next largest number at 144,240 or a 12-per-cent share of regional jobs.

- Metro Vancouver projects that in 2031 Vancouver will still maintain a dominant share of regional jobs.

That last one in particular needs to be looked at critically. “Projects” usually means “if present trends continue”, but I would suggest that going 25 years forward at the same rate as we did overv the last 5 years is unlikely, if for no other reason than the world has changed dramatically since these stats were collected. The future, it seems to me, is now a lot more uncertain - becuase the price of oil has not only changed significantly but so has the way that we respond to it. “Present trends” are no longer present - that was then and this is now - and in between times there has been a huge shift in understanding of peak oil and climate change. The broader policy context is already different.

But secondly has the City Engineer talked about this work to the City Planner?

For years there’s been much talk about about setting up new commercial districts to encourage the construction of office towers, not simply condominiums, in Vancouver. There have been dreams of creating a high-tech cluster, too, to bring about those green, high-paying jobs that need to be part of Vancouver’s — and British Columbia’s — future industrial strategy.

But nothing much ever seems to happen. These latest statistics, however, make it crystal clear that Vancouver is — and will continue to be — our economic epicentre. We need to stop ignoring that fact.

Is this even accurate? The idea of the “high tech cluster” on Terminal Avenue did see shovels go into the ground and new streets are now visible next to the train tracks. The commerical proposal died as a result of the dot.com bust.

An office tower proposal next to BC Place also died - no tenants could be found for such an “out of the way” location.

Miro suggests this is going to be material for the municipal elections - which makes the involvement of the engineering department even more problematic. Civil servants at any level of government are not supposed to dabble in politics.

This puzzle ought to become something of an issue - but I suspect it will provoke a very strong response from politicians, not so much about the content of the message, but how it is being delivered.

This post is reproduced by permission of the author, Ned Jacobs, who sent it to the Livable Region Coalition email list. I thought it deserved wider circulation.

The Vancouver Parks Board decided to cut down trees which were blocking the view of downtown from the high spot in the park. This is the destination used by many tour bus operators, and was also the site of a proposed commerical development which included a viewing tower, which was not approved after public protests. Ned has also propsed a low cost, free tower which would have achieved the same result without tree rmoval or commercial development. In my estimation, this proposal was not seriously considered by the Board, who acted in unseemly haste to avoid further public discussion.

Friends,

I want to thank each of you who contributed in any way—large or small—to what unfortunately was an unsuccessful effort to convince a majority on Parks Board that the loss of so many fine trees (exact number unknown) cannot justify the “restoration” of limited and ever-shrinking views of Vancouver’s skyline from the plaza opposite the Bloedel Conservatory. It was to create this corridor that the majority of condemned trees were sacrificed.

As you can clearly see, removing scores of 50-year old trees from Canada’s first Civic Arboretum has revealed the skyline of our fair city in all its world class glory! Now if only we could do something about those selfish red cedars that still insist on getting in the way of Harbourfront, BC Place Stadium, the West End, etc, etc. Thank God we can now at last see Science World (far right). This morning, a group of frustrated tourists were standing on the stone wall trying to get a better view of downtown. It’s not like we planted those cedars; after Little Mountain was logged 120 years ago they just started growing–without a permit!  You can see how overcrowded they are, and what poor form.  Besides, just like those pathetic trees that were “removed” yesterday, they are all infected with an untreatable disease–called “life.” If we leave them alone, not only will they soon completely obstruct these unparalleled views of Vancouver, some of them might fall victim to the ravages of life in four or five hundred years. Or a branch might fall on someone and the city could be sued! Better to put them out of their misery now—those cedars will be much happier as wood chips. But I suppose we’d better leave that to another board–the current crop of commissioners has already suffered far too much verbal abuse from those silly tree-huggers. Don’t they deserve a break? How about giving some of them an opportunity to make equally astute decisions on City Council next year?

Please forgive my lapse into sarcasm —these trees were my companions for many years…

Please forgive me for my inability to reproduce these pictures in the way that Ned did in his original post. I simply cannot understand how WordPress handles images to show these side by side in two columns at their original size. If you know how to do this with WordPress.com (not wordpress.org!) please let me know by email - not as a comment.

Brian Hutchinson has an opinion piece in the National Post (another of the Asper’s properties) which ties up the recent Auditor General’s report to the growing list of unresolved scandals dogging the BC Liberals. The release of land from a tree farm licence agreement follows pretty much standard operating procedure these days. It ignored due process, obvious conflicts of interest and the need to consult local government and the public. In other words, everything that has also occurred in this region lately over the power lines or the port expansion or the SFPR.

What surprises me is the source of this - up until now the media conglomerate has given the BC Liberal Party a much easier ride than they ever afforded the NDP. Which is as one might expect. But the current crop of scandals make the Nanaimo Bingo affair, or Glen Clark’s deck, look trivial.

A thorough analysis of what is happening now can be found on David Shrek’s blog - the two most recent articles really helped me to put this into perspective

UPDATE Saturday July 19

There is more on this story this morning from Vaughan Palmer “Forest firm takes issue with extraneous issues in land-use report”

“The auditor-general does not have the authority to reverse the decision” wrote Hert, “nor does he recommend that the decision be reversed.”

Case closed, as far as the company is concerned. But far from the end of the story in the political realm.

- - -

The auditor-general’s full report on this running land-use controversy is posted on his website, at www.bcauditor.com.

I got back yesterday after a ten hour flight, a nine hour time difference, and a bag full of dirty laundry.

The hotel in Paris did offer wi-fi - provided by Orange, for a price - but it only worked with PCs running Windows! This seems a bit contrary to Europe in general which has been very supportive officially of other systems and especially open source. And no help to us with an iMac and a Linux notebook.

This is just my impressions of Paris and by no means a thoroughly researched comparison.

The Eurostar from St Pancras was completely unremarkable, and almost devoid of any sensation. The train is very fast, but if you don’t have a window next to your seat - sadly an all too common experience when coaches are designed for first class seat pitch and then used for closer second class seating - there is nothing but the popping of your ears when entering a tunnel to indicate that. The trains are well used but not overcrowded - but people were using pull down seats in vestibules. Plenty of space for baggage (unlike the East Midlands trains Meridians) and two buffets (one for each half of the long train). We had a very nice lunch in the undercroft of the refurbished St Pancras so we did not need either. The Eurostar we were on stopped at both Ebbsfleet and Frethun - though neither produced the mob of people walking through the train you get on domestic services. And there was no on board ticket check. Running to time seems to be part of the culture, not a rare exception.  I was surprised that Channel ferries and local short hop airlines both seem to be competing effectively, but for my money the direct train service centre to centre still beats any other way to make this journey.

Paris has long had excellent Metro and RER (suburban rail) service. Buses are good too - lots of bus lanes - but not as popular as London, probably becuase they are not as well integrated. If you are using a carnet of tickets you need a separate one for bus and Metro. Much better to buy a day - or longer - period pass. But by far the best way to get around is the velolib. This was a revelation - and something we should copy soon. There is a bike parking station every 300 metres - usually off the main boulevards. Becuase they are a city initiative  they are not in many many nationally controlled tourist attractions - where there is often a lot of unused space - but always close by. And with useful maps on both the bike stations, but stops and other civic amenities. Back streets are usually quite quiet, but frequently blocked by deliveries. If you do use the main boulkevards there is either a bus lane to share - or a marked bike path. Riding on sidewalks is not allowed. Parisian drivers seem to accept cyclists in a way that Vancouver drivers need to emulate. No helmet is needed. There are marked bike areas ahead of the stop line in many major intersections.

Velo Lib Park

The velo lib has a basket, stand and a lock for use away from stations. There is really nothing to it. You swipe your credit card the first time to have a deposit reserved, and you get an identity number and select a PIN. Thereafter you can pickup and drop off where ever it is convenient. There is also a longer term proximity read card for locals, which cuts the read for pushing buttons. The machines have English and Spanish instructions and it is the most relaxing and easy way to get around - because once you have locked it back to its post at the station you can forget about it.

Bastille Day is a Big Deal - and central Paris gets closed down for a rehearsal on the 13th and the big parade on the 14th. On these days the Metro is the best way to avoid the road blocks. On July 14 the Louvre is free!

RER line C along the south (left) bank of the Seine is being reconstructed - lots of signs about replacement buses and closed stations. There is much less information though that this also affects the RER line B (which serves the airports). The station where this line connects to C is also inaccessible. Yes, there are people to advise on other ways to connect, but none of the labelling on maps or line diagrams which I think is needed.

The Euro is much stronger than the Canadian dollar, and Paris has never been a very cheap place. But still well worth every sou! I would not recommend the Bateux Parisiens from Notre Dame as a way of sight seeing - not that there is anything wrong with the boats, just the complete absence of crowd control. Other operators seem to have bigger craft with more facilities on board and ashore. The Mussee D’Orsay is unmissable - and allow more than a couple of hours. A whole day would be worthwhile there. If you have small children, model sailing boats in the Luxembourg gardens and the zoo at Jardin des Plantes should be on the list. (We didn’t - but still enjoyed both).  Quite why Parisians are willing to line up and drink coffee out of paper cups at Starbucks beats me. The typical cafe with seating on the sidewalk - and waiter service - seems to me to be far superior in every respect.

Charles de Gaulle airport is huge and Terminal 3 a long walk - outside - from the RER Terminal 1 station. There does not appear to be a shuttle service. The terminal itself is just a shed - with no airbridges at the gates. Instead shuttle buses (with few seats) take passengers to the planes on the apron. Accessibility seems to have a generally lower place in priorities - not just in the airport but across the board. And those big rolling suitcases are seen everywhere - and usually with the owner of them struggling with stairs, turnstiles and other obstacles.  And on the Metro not only are the turnstiles mostly unmanned - but even where staff are present the plight of encumbered passengers is more a source of amused observation than actual help. Other passengers are much more helpful.

In England and France, chip and PIN cards (both debit and credit) are universal. While our cards mostly worked, they do not always. So have some cash if you want to buy metro ticket - their machines do not accept our cards. Nor will Marks and Spencers let you get Euros with a Canadian card (they have a big business now in commission free currency exchanges).

And too late for me but maybe not for you the Guardian has a list of the top 10 Paris Bistros on a Budget (prix fixe for E25 to 30). I did not visit any of these but will happily recommend

Cafe des Beaux Arts (left bank near Pont des Arts)

Brasserie au Soleil de la Butte (Montmatre)

Cafe au Petit Suisse (Rue Corneille, Luxemburg gardens)

Polidor (St Germain des Pres)

It is probably very dangerous indeed to generalise from one bus ride to an international comparison. But, today’s experience was quite different to what I experience at home.

This is the bus that my sister uses every day to get to work. She has her own car, and could drive but chooses to use the bus. It takes about 20 minutes door to door from the outer edge of what in Vancouver would be zone 1 to the centre of town and costs £1.50 cash fare (about CAN$3) - less for regular travel. She says with the hassle and cost of parking, it simply isn’t worth driving.

The advertised 20 minute service frequency is off peak - and operates on the clock face principle. So from this bus stop, a bus leaves at 10, 30 and 50 minutes past each hour. Which means that you do not need a schedule. (Buses are, of course, more frequent at the peak but still on a clock face departure time.) The bus stop diplays the correct current time and the time of the next departure. The driver will make change if you do not have the correct fare. The midibus is quiet and comfortable, has leather seats and shows a display of what is on its cctv security cameras interspersed with useful information. The company used to be private but was in competition with the former Nottingham City Transport - and has in fact now been taken over by that operation. It is a curious fact that the theory that small private sector operators are more effcient and effective than municipal operations has been proved wrong here and in many other places.

A bit further down the road, there is a “bus plug”. This allows only buses to pass on what used to be a major arterial road through the village of Burton Joyce. Through traffic now has to use a new by-pass, but local traffic can of course get in from either end. By this simple device, the environment in the village has been vastly improved, since there is no longer the stink and noise from a constant stream of heavy goods vehicles. Or people driving through on their way to somewhere else. The bypass is not a freeway but a simple two lane road, but with no acesses - quite adequate for what is required, so no new traffic is being generated, but buses have a distinct advantage of a direct route, are less hampered by traffic and provide reliable local service.

The original operation of this service was an “intercity” service between Newark and Nottingham, but careful monitoring of how it was used resulted in it being split into two local services - one serving each city. Although now part of NCT it retains a distinct identity and has a dedicated local team of operators. The midsize, single door bus is accessible and lowers at every stop without fuss or delay. People get up and move from the designated seats without being asked - for use by people with mobility limitations of many kinds including using a cane or pushing a stroller. The bus is sparkling clean inside and out with the driver going through at the terminus to tidy it up if needed.

People who use Translink buses would be amazed. Most of what the people of Nottingham and its surrounding area take for granted simply cannot be delivered like this. There is no effective planning of routes or adjustments based on experience here. Schedules and routes here are not determined by customer need and convenience but operational “efficiency” (i.e. what the union will concede). And traffic engineers in the City of Vancouver - and many other cities in the region - would rather have their toenails pulled out with red hot pincers than allow a “bus plug” on an arterial road. As for clock face service it has always been said that it is “too expensive” - but in fact has never been seriously considered.

I am now at my sister’s house in Nottingham, with access to broadband - and no limitations, other than familial obligations. I found it quite surprising that a very expensive Central London hotel did not provide broadband as part of deal, but charged more for a day than most people pay for a month! But then they even charge £1.50 for toll free phone calls. The Park Plaza County Hall is not in fact in County Hall (that’s a Marriot) but across the street, but very conveniently located for most things.

I did not rent a car and have not needed one. The train from Gatwick to Victoria is very good, and from outside Victoria Station I lined up for a while to buy two “pay as you go” Oyster cards, which I loaded with enough credit for four days all in the Central Zone.  These not only got us unlimited bus and tube rides, but also dicounts on things like a river trip. Note to Kevin Falcon: I was not required to provide any personal information to get an Oyster card. (Indeed neither was that thought necessary in New York for a MetroCard.)

The amount of fare integration is less than 100%. It does not cover national rail services within the capital - so for instance for a fast direct train from Greenwich to Waterloo, we paid £2 each in cash, as the service was more direct than anything Transport for London has to offer. This seems to stem from commercial concerns as none of the national train operators has adopted the Oyster technology. So far as I could see you cannot use Oyster cards to make other small purchases either - unlike Hong Kong.

The big difference for me is the way that London buses now have been made very much better in recent years. There are a lot more of them and they have much more in the way of on street priority. For visitors to London, I think buses are a much better way to get around - as the view from the top deck of a bus is hard to beat. There are many hop on hop off sightseeing buses - many with no roof - but these are not operated by TfL - although their operations are regulated by them to minimize opertaional conflicts. My advice to visitors is to ignore these tours and rely on service buses, which are cheap, frequent and very reliable. Not only that but there are ticket machines at the stops to speed boarding, and lots of information in the shelters, which also include perch type seats. We never had to wait long, and always knew where to get the bus and where it was going before we got on. Drivers seem to have very little interaction with passengers, and thus less stress and can concentrate on driving.

The congestion charge has had an effect, but it has not eliminated congestion. Special events such as a gay pride parade and a 10k run can still plug up the central area (last weekend saw both). That is when the tube is better. But otherwise I find that the indirectness of some routes,and the long walks through subterranean tunnels, make buses a better bet even if there is not much to see. And the large area set aside for wheelchairs is also good for luggage. So this morning to get from Waterloo to St Pancras, a one seat ride on a 59 was better than the tube with a transfer.

The refurbished St Pancras Station is very impressive - and also easy to use. Dominated by Eurostar, local and national services have been pushed to the back, but integration with bus, tube and rail is much better. Kings Cross is also being improved so the whole rather seedy area will be revitalized.  

 

What is now East Midlands trains is still operating the combination of HSTs and Meridiens they inherited from Midland Mainline. While the Meridian is a fast modern train, it is nothing like as good as an HST from a passenger’s perspective. There is less room, and not nearly enough baggage stowage, the seating in airline style is not as welcoming as face to face - and the worst fault is that windows do not line up with seats, so the view can be restricted or nothing at all. And diesel engine roaring away under each car is a lot noisier than more powerful units in the end cars only.  

That being said, they are still many years ahead of anything currently in use in Canada for inter city travel - and managed the 129 miles in 1 hour 40 minutes with 2 stops - and booking in advance got me a £10 ticket. So not only faster than a car but cheaper too.

I have only been picking up local free papers here - and catching up on major news stories - so do not expect much on BC events from me for a while.

The high cost of internet access from my hotel - and a lack of desire to lug the laptop around with me looking for free wifi - means there will be little news from me for a day or so. i am still moderating comments - but posting more than this will have to wait for a bit.

Matt Frei 
BBC News, Washington

Matt Frei travelled to Houston to debate how America is going to get itself off oil. And, of course, most of this can apply equally well to other North American cities - including ours.

Worth reading not becuase he says anything especially new or different - but it is good writing. For example

Houston is not so much a city but a climatic disaster masquerading as one.

Pete McMartin in the Sun continues to surprise me with his well balanced and thpoughtful commentary.

In particular, I wouldn’t want to be an engineer or urban planner these days. All those former projections of the future, with their steady reassuring growth rates climbing nicely toward the upper right-hand quadrant of a graph? Gone. Or, at least, in doubt. Nothing can be taken for granted any more. And that not only includes the cost of fuel, but how we progress as a region.

Take the Gateway project. The premier’s vision to streamline truck and auto traffic with new perimeter roads, the construction of a tolled bridge over the Fraser and the twinning of the Port Mann Bridge exists on the premise that traffic will increase to the point of gridlock in the near future.

That the provincial government is spending billions to promote more vehicular traffic while introducing a carbon tax seems a little illogical, but forget that for the moment. There’s a greater, unintended logic within it.

It’s this. The carbon tax was introduced to change our driving habits, to force us to drive less, and with less environmental impact. That is good.

And which is why I believe the carbon tax is a good thing.

But this, high fuel prices have already done, and will continue to do so. Car buyers are abandoning SUVs and minivans, and using mass transit in growing numbers.

But a greater impact may be just down the road. A recent CIBC study I mentioned in Saturday’s column predicted there would be 10 million fewer cars on the road in the U.S. within five years, and 700,000 fewer in Canada.

I think the headline may well be the result of some sub-editor’s inability to command the English language. There will still be “progress” - infact reducing reliance on fossil fuels and driving seems to me to be very progressive indeed. The whole ethos of the regional plan was “increase transportation choice’. You will notice that all the critic try to ignore that. They talk about “socail engineering” or “punishing car drivers” - when both those statements are deliberate falsehoods. Getting from 11% transit share - where we have been stuck since I got here ten years ago - to 17% which is where we should be by now but won’t be at the current rate of progress in any forseeable future - still means more than 80% of trips in cars. A modest shift in priorities, and probably not enough, but hardly a massive change in direction.

But even that is not enough for Kevin Falcon who is convinced that not only is population going to rise, but all of the new people will want to drive for every trip - even though we cannot accommodate that or afford that. And he acknowledges that there has to be some transit expansion - just not before the people get here and not before he has built his roads. So this becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, for without more transit capacity in the right places right now there can be no transit mode share increase.

But Falcon is in league with those who also want to see an end to the Green Zone, and end to protection of agricultural land and ever more opportunity to keep on doing all those things that have got us into this mess in the first place.

But note how Falcon has stopped talking about the port and the airport - or the need to accomodate trucks (though the Mayor of Surry, Diane Watts, still does). For the imnpact of high oil prices is already causing considerable rethinking of how - and why - we move stuff around. The current model of free markets is all based on cheap oil - and that’s gone. So while we may not see a return to protcectionism (thopugh I would not bet on it) we are seeing repatriation of manufacturing.

I do expect there to be more innovation - humans are nautrually inventive, and many inventions formerly squashed by big oil will start to re-emerge. Hydrogen seems the least likely, sicen it is not a source of energy, merely a way to store it - and a very expensive and awkward thing to store it is too. Better batteries, better business models and plug in hybrids will be the first. So will the use of waste as fuel - including human waste.

But building freeways does not help produce a sustainable future. Firstly because it diverts resources away from transit expansion but also becuase it promotes low density sprawl. You do not get transit oriented development without transit! This region needs to hang on to its peat bog - the best way of sequestering carbon we know of - and it’s ability to grow food. We do not need more roads - we need to use them more efficiently. We need to use the underused railway tracks, and the river, more.

We cannot afford the Gateway - and the Gateway is not “progress” at all. It is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome.

A guest post from Donna Passmore addressed to those fighting to protect the region’s environment

I know you feel defeated and frustrated. I know how hard you’ve  worked, how generous you’ve been of your time and talent and money. I know how heartbreaking it is when you watch the politicians that you  believed in and worked for betray their promises to you. I know how sickening it is to watch developers buy their way to destroying the environment so they can have “a little more’.

I know how disgusting it is to watch the green wash flow out of  Victoria and Ottawa and City Hall while the actual policies  threaten the health of your children and the ability of our environment to sustain us.

Three thousand Delta citizens stood in the pounding rain for more than two hours to send a message to the premier that they don’t want high voltage lines over their homes, electrical lines that the medical
professionals have told them are likely to impose cancer on their children….and for power that is going to the US. And after watching  the newscasts of that demonstration our provincial government’s callous response was that it was unmoved.

The Gateway Program will destroy nearly 2000 acres of farmland all told, will seriously harm Burns Bog, will impose toxic diesel particulate on the children of 17 schools in Delta and Surrey (80% of which are elementary schools), will support the expansion of Deltaport  that will take massive tanker traffic into critical habitat for our already endangered Southern Resident Orcas and will probably destroy the last of the salmon habitat in the Lower Fraser Estuary, threatening the survival of salmon for the entire Fraser River… and do so at a time when changes in energy and shipping tell us it is not only bad environmental policy, but bad business.

Gordon Campbell is spending hundreds of millions of dollars celebrating 150 years of white settlement in British Columbia, while destroying a 3,600 year old FN village and 3,500 - 9,000 year old First Nation sacred sites, to support his massive road expansion.

The Mayor of Delta has lied to the people who elected her. Her former campaign manager and executive assistant have divorced themselves from any further association with Lois Jackson because of her  unconscionable betrayal of voter trust.

The Mayor of White Rock campaigned on a platform of limiting the height of buildings. She betrayed that promise, but prolonged the decision through a subsequent election campaign so that she could hold
on to power. This is not an invitation to debate the ceiling on density.

The City of Surrey threw out its slogan of “City of Parks” and its wildlife logos and adopted an “anywhere USA” line of high rise apartments as its new logo… while the Mayor - who campaigned for office accusing her predecessor of having “chopped down 50,000 trees”  - has herself destroyed massive amounts of the richest biodiversity in this city. She has allowed developers to build right up to the edge of our streams and rivers, to take down trees during nesting season, and to sell viable farmland for massive sprawling industrial parks.

Developers have made a killing in this region for the past 15 years - they have a hell of a lot of money, and are prepared to use it to buy influence. They have large staffs of lobbyists that spend their days working the halls of government while you and I are trying to earn enough money to keep our bills paid and a little extra to print brochures to our neighbours about the environmental problems we are creating.

Here are our choices:
We can give up. Most people already have - that’s the only reason Campbell and Falcon and Harper and Lois Jackson are able to get away with what they are getting away with. Developers win when people stop fighting.

Developers have lots of money - but they don’t have the votes. We do.

And within the next 18 months we have municipal, provincial and federal elections - and an incredible opportunity to reclaim control.  We can do more than throw out Gordon Campbell and Kevin Falcon -
we can throw out their legislation that robbed local governments of the power to resist them.

We CAN stop Gateway. When honourable people get control of the board of Metro Vancouver, we can rebuild the Green Zone. We can protect our foodlands, our fisheries, our communities, our children. We can set limits on growth and development.

We must continue to stand together, we need good, honest people to put their names on the ballots.

To quote hereditary Chief Red Jacket’s remarks to the Upper Pitt River meeting, “When we step forward together, we can run the bastards out of town.”

On Monday, August 4th - at the 11th hour - a spiritual and scientific vigil will be held in Delta to support preservation of FN sacred sites. Watch the Stop Gateway facebook group for details.

On Saturday, July 27th , the Farmland Defence League is bringing together the founders of the Agricultural Land Reserve and the FDL for a kick-off fundraising dinner to celebrate and re-attest our  commitment to protecting our foodlands for future generations. Tickets are $35… and I can provide.

“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every  time we fail.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense”
Winston Churchill

Donna Passmore

Farmland Defence League of BC
Fraser Valley Conservation Coalition
& Gateway 40 Citizens Network

A couple of weeks ago I write about how the rise in oil prices is going to hit the airlines. The effect is also going to hit Beoing, Airbus and Bombardier hard too - as outlined yesterday by Kristen Lagadec for GlobalPublicMedia

But don’t expect to hear very much about this from the boosters at YVR and Abbotsford. Who, of course, are still expecting us to pay for vast lanside expansions of our transportation systems to carry their forecasted increases in passengers. And still turn up at planning meetings across the region pushing their outdated agenda.

The Sun has a list of ten fuel saving tips this morning which I reproduce below.

My commute to work has to be by car - and is on Highway 99 through the Deas Tunnel - at off peak periods. And I live on Steveston Highway which has a posted speed of 50 km/hr which is not observed by anyone as far as I can determine. I recently wrote about this, I know, and I have seen reports that driving behaviour has been changing in the US. But my observations suggest that the vast majority who were stupid enough to line up on Monday, with their engines idling - to save a dollar on a tank of gas, are still driving too fast, and certainly not looking ahead.

I will be leaving tomorrow for a trip to London, Nottingham and Paris - and will of course be blogging by wifi when I can. You guys be nice to each other while I am away!

1. Fine tune: A well-tuned vehicle performs better. Have it checked regularly and make sure to change the oil every 5,000 km or six months, unless you regularly do long-distance highway driving. Then change it at a maximum 12,000 km. And use an energy-conserving oil suitable for the season.

2. Pump it up: A 20-per-cent drop in tire pressure will increase fuel consumption by about 10 per cent. Proper pressure also increases tread life by 15 per cent and improves braking performance. Check tire pressure once a month and watch for signs of unusual tread wear.

3. No idling: Leaving a car running (like in a ferry lineup) for more than a minute or two can cause damage which harms efficiency and shortens engine life. Shutting off and restarting the engine generally uses less fuel and emits less pollution.

4. Multi-task: Make fewer trips by combining tasks into a single trip rather than making several trips throughout the day. And since a car uses less fuel when the engine is warm, pick up groceries on the way home from work.

5. Lose weight: Avoid carrying heavy things you don’t need to carry, like skis or tools. And remove roof racks when not in use. More weight, more fuel.

6. Start slow: Driving the vehicle slower and keeping the engine speed low until its normal operating temperature is reached is more fuel-efficient. In commercial trucks, “jackrabbit starts” save less than three minutes over an hour but use 40 per cent more fuel.

7. Use the windows: Rolling down the windows instead of using the air conditioning will save fuel in city or low-speed driving. At highway cruising speeds close the windows to reduce wind resistance. In today’s aerodynamically efficient vehicles, the more resistance, the more fuel consumed.

8. Check the thermostat: A faulty cooling system thermostat that doesn’t allow the engine to quickly reach or maintain its correct operating temperature can dramatically increase fuel consumption and affect the performance of an electronically controlled engine.

9. Look ahead: According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about 50 per cent of the fuel consumed in city driving is used during acceleration. When accelerating, do it gently and steadily.

10. Slow down: Cars travelling at 120 km/h rather than 100 km/h use 20 per cent more fuel to cover the same distance.

To which I will add, and walk, bike or use transit when you can - and plan your trips to make more use of these modes. All the buses here have bike racks - which greatly increases the range you can ride, and defeats those steep hills and dangerous sections of fast, busy main roads.

But I know most of you do that - and more - already. And those that don’t are probably not listening

I am pleased to be able to pass along a link to the Lincoln Land Institute’s newsletter which brings news of John Emmanuel Davis (a visiting fellow there) and a new initiative in Boston. You may recall he spoke at SFU about housing affordability earlier this year

I stumbled upon this report this morning - or rather Timothy Hurst’s summary of it on “Red Green and Blue”

The key assumptions are that non OECD growth continues at a rapid pace and that there is no effective international agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

And as the price of oil rises so “Unconventional resources (including oil sands, extra-heavy oil, biofuels, coal-to-liquids, and gas-to-liquids) from both OPEC and non-OPEC sources are expected to become increasingly competitive”. And of course in the case of oil sands - and actually the other sources too - these sources are themselves major CO2 emitters.

It is, of course, a lot easier to project forward from existing trends than to judge how the world is going to respond to this - meaning us, the planet’s reaction is all too predictable too, and has been predicted for some time, but so far nothing very effective is being done about the threat this poses to human survival. And the press that I have been reading over the weekend seems to be obsessed with the short term political outcomes - the impact of BC’s carbon tax and whether Stephane Dion’s announcement of a proposed equivalent - are the kiss of death to Liberal political hopes. On the whole I find it very hard to be concerned about that.

I think the only real question left is how bad does it have to get before we start to change? And by “we” I mean human beings in general and the largest consumers of fossil fuels in particular. And of course this is not a particularly original thought

Yesterday Metro Vancouver decided to allow land to be taken out of the Green Zone for redevelopment. This was at the bidding of Surrey - but undoubtedly there has been a campaign for some time. The line goes - we support you to take some land out and then you support us. Expect to see much more taken out in coming months.

The first four words of the Livable Region Strategic Plan are “Protect the Green Zone”, and since 1995 that is what has been done.  The LRSP is still the legally mandated Regional Growth Strategy, which Metro exists to defend. But what the councillors at yesterday’s meeting showed was that when the temptation to make money from property development gets big enough, nothing will ever be allowed to stand in its way. We have already seen the protection of the ALR gradually whittled away. Now the Green Zone will follow. The SFPR and the expansion of Deltaport will see an end to farming in much of Delta and will kill both Burns Bog and the last salmon runs in the Fraser. The twinning of the Port Mann Bridge and expansion of Highway 1 will see continuous suburban car oriented development south of the Fraser - unless someone wakes up in Victoria soon and realises what has been happening across North America is starting to happen here too. (North of the Fraser the Golden Ears Bridge and the replacement of the Pitt River Bridge will see the same effect.) Rising oil prices mean that automobility as we know it will no longer be economically feasible - so the irreversible damage to the region’s livability will have been for nought.

And the judgement of future generations on what this short sighted, greedy decision means for the region will be harsh.

I searched in vain for a mention of this in our local media - nothing in the Sun or Province - and of course nothing in the locals since they went to press long before the meeting started. The CBC was there - they have a story on Translink funding - but obviously missed the significance of what happened.

UPDATE Sunday June 29, 06:40

Frank Luba has a short piece in the Province this morning

a long-time defender of the ALR, Richmond councillor Harold Steves, called the decision “disappointing.”

In addition to setting a precedent for other developers hoping to take land out of the ALR or Metro’s Green Zone, he contends the development will affect the Pacific flyway used by migratory birds.

“We’ve talked about eco-density and the city centres and preserving the Green Zone and this flies in the face of both,” said Steves.

Salt Spring Coffee and the Sierra Club of BC have a competiton on line. Fairly modest prizes (though I could do with a year’s supply of coffee) but mostly about raising awareness of what you can do to reduce your carbon footprint. Have a look and refer your friends.

Nanaimo Daily News

I must admit I was a bit startled by the idea of trolleybuses in Nanaimo - especially when it is said that “$200,000 [is] required to establish the service”.

Of course it is not a “trolleybus” but one of the fake SF type trolley bodies on a small bus - just like the so called “Vancouver Trolley”

It is one thing when green pressure groups and political parties start asking you for $100 - it is quite another when a municipal government does so. I also take more than a little umbrage at the Premier signing the letter that heads the cheque - and the little pamphlet that also tels me how to spend my money that they are giving back to me, to offset the carbon tax I will be paying.

We have NOT got $100 extra each. We have had some of our income tax returned to us so we can pay our carbon tax. All the rest is spin.

And from a government that includes highway widening in its greenhouse gas reduction plan on the utterly bogus premise that widening roads reduces traffic congestion.  All these so called “green alternatives” are trivial in comparison. Gordon Campbell knows that “you cannot build your way out of congestion” - that is a direct quote of what he has said more than once.

And if you really want me to reduce my power consumption - how about a law which trumps silly strata title rules like “no washing lines” and “no solar panels”?

In got really lucky. I happened to be online when an email sent to all local members of the Institute of Transport Engineers came into my inbox. It was an invitation to a site visit to the Canada Line construction site under False Creek. There were a very limited number of places, and as I was one those who responded straight away I got on the tour.

Work is still continuing. Track is laid in only one of the tunnels, and there is no electrification yet. Work is currently busiest in the station boxes, but in general the project is actually ahead of schedule. I also understand that contrary to what may appear in some of my earlier pieces, there is capacity in the stations for three car trains, but initially they will all be two cars.

The engineers are of course all quite pumped to see the thing getting closer to completion. Actual constriction being much closer to their hearts than the long process of deciding what should be built and where. And of course int his case that process was rushed and not at all inclusive, and we could go on for days about what else could have been done. But what is being done now is impressive.