October 22, 2007
Gateway opposition is strong and growing
A brief Monday lunch blog today highlighting some of the best arguments against Gateway so far. Via Beyond Robson.
Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan recently delivered an excellent speech to members of the public about opposition to the Province's Gateway project. It is one of the most informative and compelling arguments to date. Congratulations on a moving and inspiring speech! Watch the YouTube video.
Corrigan said to visit Burnaby's website for info.
About
I am a communication designer in Vancouver, BC. Most of my writing and community activism are in the interconnected issues of public transit, local eating and food security, politics, health, environment, and sustainability in general. At heart, I'm a geek and a total treehugger. Nature, tea, good food and great company make me happy.
Currently reading:
"Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life"
Brian Brett
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Comments (2)
Derek Corrigan and Burnaby are playing the same political games as Vancouver. Burnaby was founded on the Trans Canada Freeway. Now that it’s time to widen the highway in support of further development, which might benefit other municipalities further out, and perhaps compete with Burnaby for investment dollars, he’s opposed. He wraps himself in an environmental flag, falsely claiming to be opposed to sprawl.
But all of Burnaby is sprawl, the sprawl of the 1950s to the 1980s. And even today, with the Big Bend shopping centres along Marine Way, not only is Burnaby pushing an industrial and commercial precinct that will ultimately employ 30,000 people and is all but entirely dependent on auto traffic, they actually took land out of the ALR to do it! If Surrey or Langley did a similar development, Corrigan and his Council would hypocritically criticize them for violating the LRSP. What a joke!
Thanks for your comments, Budd.
First off, Corrigan has only been Mayor of Burnaby for 5 years (Councillor for 15 before that) so one can hardly suggest that he’s responsible for Burnaby’s history. I’m a little surprised you consider Burnaby to be sprawl. Its population density is twice that of Surrey and it is served by two SkyTrain lines and several arterial road connections.
I would argue that the highway widening is not to support development, but is instead about greed and backward political philosophy.
Sprawl from 20, 50 years ago can densify, as I’m certain it did in Burnaby and that Surrey will do. Politicians also change. At the end of it all, his statements are powerful and optimistic. If you want to point fingers at hypocrites there is no better candidate than our Premier.