A Pause in programming:

I have been pretty busy, working on this:

It should be a good event. The topic is relevant for several reasons. The City is developing a new Master Transportation Plan right now. The Province is spending a few billion dollars bringing more cars to our eastern border. The North Fraser Perimeter Road will include the United Connector, which will include the expansion of a one-lane bridge (already part of a long-standing dispute ) to a four-lane bridge and the passing-over of a rail line currently signal-controlled- with no plans to adapt New Westminster traffic to fit the new capacity. Rumblings are afoot about reviving the Stormont connector. The Pattullo is due for an upgrade. Translink is mired in a “funding gap”, while the Premier runs around promising trains to UBC and Langley while still not funding the trains he promised last decade. Still, no-one is talking about Front Street.

Our speakers are high-quality: Jerry Dobrovolny used to be a City Councillor in New West, and is now Director of Transportation for the City of Vancouver. He will be talking about the massive transportation success that was the 2010 Olympics, and how that relates to longer-term plans in Vancouver to increase the “alternative mode share” (people transporting themselves without cars).

Joe Zaccaria from South Fraser OnTrax has been an advocate for a better regional transportation system, and smarter development South of the Fraser. Since most of New Westminster’s traffic problems are caused by through-travel, and most of that through travel goes across the Fraser, his interest inevitably is our interest.

Finally, Jonathan Cote is a City Councillor here in New Westminster, and is also an advocate for alternative transportation (who lives what he preaches: I see him walking by my house to go to work every day!). He will be talking about the future of development in New Westminster, and how municipal planning can result in high “alternative mode share”. I suspect he will also be talking about the “funding gap” and road pricing as a policy.

So come out, let’s hear what you have to say. Hopefully we will find a more…uh… nuanced approach than this guy:

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