Editor:
I will be voting ‘no’ on the Metro Vancouver Congestion Improvement Tax referendum and encourage everyone to take the same position.
It is not because it is an unworthy cause. It is certainly worthy. Yet so are many other causes. Education, health care, policing, homelessness, poverty, child abuse and aging infrastructure all come to mind.
Is the concept of specific taxes for specific causes the direction we are going? Will the popularity or visibility of a cause determine its success? Will the general revenue fund be available for whimsy once the funding pressures are provided by specific tax measures?
We elect leaders with the expectation that they will lead. They are to carefully consider the issues, make the difficult decisions and stand by the reasoning behind those decisions. They hire competent professionals to advise them.
At least that is the way I thought the system was supposed to work.
This referendum I oppose based on the abdication of leadership and the direction of creating specific taxes for specific purposes.
Allan Alton. Surrey
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“You can’t get there from here” will be a common cry from under-served commuters in Langley if the upcoming referendum fails.
My family found having two cars a financial burden. I decided that, as I work in Cloverdale, riding the bus would be an affordable alternative.
The people I see on the bus need reliable transit to get to work. It would be difficult for most small businesses to rely on a workforce that could not afford to get to work.
Eldery and disabled people have been devastated by a HandyDart funding freeze. Without adequate funding, HandyDart riders will be robbed of their health and quality of life. My 91- and 92-year-old mother and father rely on HandyDart.
If people vote ‘no’, they may be expressing their anger at TransLink mismanagement. Anger should be expressed at those truly responsible for debacles past and present.
The provincial government dumped the responsibility of building mega bridges on TransLink. The provincial government created a sham of governance by removing mayors and appointing corporate shills to the TransLink board. The provincial government pours money into LNG development despite all advice to the contrary. The provincial government robs working people of the democratic right to resist power giveaways with the Site C Dam.
TransLink’s strings are controlled by a cruel puppet master.
A vote in favour of transit funding is a vote to provide working people, a growing aging population and disabled people dignity. The real vote against ineptitude is a vote against the Liberal government in the next election.
Mark Beeching, Langley
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In the upcoming referendum on transit, I may vote ‘no’ – not because I don’t want another tax increase to finance improvements, but because I don’t like what is proposed for Surrey.
Surrey is growing rapidly, and increasing traffic congestion is not the way to go. I believe the proposed light rail plan will do just that.
Adding two tracks on 104 Avenue – Fraser Highway to Langley and along King George to 72 Avenue – will not improve congestion.
Fraser Highway was recently widened to four lanes to Langley, but eliminating two of those lanes for tracks will only add to congestion. And the same could be said for 104 Avenue and King George Boulevard.
Can you imagine travelling down either one of these streets with only one lane in each direction?
Also, light rail is not compatible with SkyTrain.
SkyTrain has its maintenance yard in Burnaby, which light rail will not be able to access.
That means there will have to be a maintenance facility and storage yard built somewhere in Surrey or perhaps Langley to accommodate light-rail cars.
I’ve had a look at the proposed ballot for the referendum and, if it is presented as shown, it could be misleading for the citizens of Surrey.
One final point:
The proposed light rail along 104 Avenue and King George is planned for sometime in the next seven years and the Fraser Highway line is planned for sometime in the next 12 years. So-called rapid transit for Surrey will not happen overnight.
Unless the proposed system of light rail for Surrey and Langley is upgraded to include SkyTrain extensions, I’m considering voting ‘no’ in the referendum.
Keith Wilson, Surrey