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Dear Republic: Good on you for keeping up the good reads. I found Reed Eurchuk’s analysis (All municipal choices converge to one, issue 182) interesting and I inquire whether it's just yak or would he consider a wager? He wrote: "Meanwhile, COPE is threatening to run a full slate of candidates including a mayoral candidate if Vision does not agree with this demand. Are they bluffing? You bet." In consultation with wagering advisers, I am asking your writer and the Republic of East Vancouvber the odds offered against the bluff. Might be worth doing for your readers, a street indicator by making book on politics. Could be interesting. —Sid Tan, Vancouver Dear Republic: Shame on all of you. To the people at the 29th Avenue Skytrain station at 8 AM on wed, February 13 who saw me fall out of a crowded Skytrain car and onto the platform, then lay on the cold brick floor slipping almost out of consciousness for nearly five minutes, shame on you. In the midst of that bustling Wednesday morning commute, not one person stopped to check and see if I was okay. Not a single other human being saw me in that time of pain, fear, and need and asked if I was okay or needed any help. Fortunately I am ok. But this city is not. What happened to my Vancouver? What happened to the humanity of our fair city? Have we become oblivious because of the number of people who sleep on the street? The blatant drug addicts? Guess what—those are human beings just like you and me. Some might argue that they weren't sure if I was on drugs or might cause harm to them if they attempted to help. Here is what I know: I have never been mugged by a 24 year old woman in Lululemon, a Columbia jacket, new Nikes, wearing D&G glasses and diamond wedding rings. My point is that I don't look like a very threatening. I lived in New York City for three years and once I slipped on winter ice and three separate people came over to make sure I was ok. Wake up Vancouver. Wake up to the fact that other human beings share this city with you, and no matter their ethnicity, apparent income or social status, they deserve respect, compassion, and simple decent common courtesy. —Ingrid Hartloff, Vancouver Dear Republic: During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act, said George Orwell. The newly established Carbon Tax should be called the SkyTrain/Bombardier tax, for that is what the carbon tax is. TransLink's fascination with the now-obsolete proprietary SkyTrain light-metro system and the provincial government's announcement of a $14 billion transit plan, which includes the under-construction $125 million-per-kilometre light-metro Canada line; an over $230 million per kilometre extension of the SkyTrain Millennium Line to UBC; the over $100 million per kilometre SkyTrain Evergreen line, and the future $100 million or more per kilometer SkyTrain extensions in Surrey, needs a very large tax to fund it. The Carbon tax is that tax. Bombardier Inc is the sole owner and supplier of the SkyTrain and the cars for the RAV/Canada Line are Bombardier metro cars built under licence by Rotem. SkyTrain is so expensive to build and operate (the driverless SkyTrain costs about double the cost to operate than LRT systems the same size) that no other city in the world uses the light-metro exclusively for public transit. TransLink has cunningly manipulated transit planning to justify SkyTrain in corridor after corridor, and thus succeeded in keeping its proprietary rail system expanding. In the US, all new transit projects that seek federal support are now subjected to scrutiny by a panel of transit peers selected and monitored by the federal government to ensure that projects are analyzed honestly and the taxpayers' interests are protected. No SkyTrain project has ever passed this scrutiny in the US. For less than half the cost of Kevin Falcon's and Premier Campbell's announced provincial transit plans, the city of Denver is building three times the rail transit by building with LRT. Denver is spending $6 billion to increase its present light rail operation by 195 kilometres. Until we start building affordable rail transit for the region, expect the Carbon/SkyTrain/Bombardier Tax to increase on an annual basis until it bankrupts the province. —Malcolm Johnston, Light Rail Committee
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The Republic of East Vancouver masthead
The Republic of East Vancouver supports no party, advocates
for no cause, represents no group, serves no master, and considers
problems with no preconceived notions. We hope to afflict the comfortable,
both materially and intellectually, and comfort the afflicted—of
both kinds as well, and we are trying to do both things at the same
time.
Publisher, Editor
Kevin Potvin
Advertising
Kevin
Potvin
Support
Dan Crawford, John Daigle,
Jack Etkin, Janis Harper, Carl Johnson, Hilary Jones, Chris King,
James Mecham, Albrecht Meyers, Peter Miller, James Pope
Contributors in this and recent issues
Bruce Alexander, Dan Adleman, Toby Alford, Kevin Annett, Santo Barbieri, Bob Broughton, Mike Bryan, Stephen Buckley, Matthew Burrows, Maria Calleja, Ron Carton, Chad Christie, Joshua Corber, Dan Crawford, Gail Davidson, Eric Doherty, Joe Donaldson, Lorena Jara Patty Ducharme, Shadia Drury, Taivo Evard, Reed Eurchuk, Farnaz Fassihi, Thomas Feakins, Anthony Fenton, Reza Fiyouyzat, Andrew Gordon Fleming, Ryan Fugger, Sasha Gagic, Matt Goody, Guy Hawkins, Spencer Herbert, John Irwin, Nick Istvaniffy, Junius, William Kay, Mike Keep, Kate Kennedy, Donald Kropp, Chris LaVigne, James Lindfield, Brian Lindgreen, Karen Litzke, Keith MacKenzie, Michael McLaughlin, Sonya McRae, Rafe Mair, Sonia Marino, Jennifer Matsui, Michael Millard, Isaebel Minty, Michael Nenonen, Wendy Nylund, Derrick O’Keefe, Stephen Osborne, Sean Orr, Evan Augustine Pederson III, Stephen Peplow, Kim Peterson, Kevin Potvin, Mary Rawson, Andrea Reimer, Erin Riley, Phil Rockstroh, Becky Scott, Jason Scott, Chris Shaw, Jeff Steudel, Alex Tegart, Scott Turner, Elbio Grosso Trentini, Patrick Vert, Chris Walker, Sean Wilkinson, Brad Zembic
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