CremeVille
While Kirk Lapointe tries, according to FABula, to conjure the political ghost of Jennifer Clarke AND make anti-Gregor hay over the matter of the destroyed gardens, Stephen Rees wonders (with the help of a GStraight reader) if, perhaps, CP will next start to wreak traffic havoc:
CP could easily store trains or train its crews without going to all this trouble: there is plenty of track in better condition but just as unused elsewhere in the City. If I was a CP shareholder, I think I would criticize management for wasting money on rack of little use. Maybe reverting a pleasant greenway to a workable railway with no customers actually lowers its value. And here is a quote from one of the comments (“Naturalmystic”) under that Strait story linked to above which raises a possibility I had not considered
CP has the hammer and they don’t have to run a single train to get their price for the land. To run trains they need to upgrade the tracks. They need to upgrade the level crossings. Imagine you are trying to drive down Broadway and Arbutus at 8:30 am and the traffic is gridlocked. The cause? CP is doing work at the crossing. That entails working in the signals, the track…The city can’t do a damn thing. CP has the right to maintain their tracks, equipment, level crossings at any time without restraint. CP has the right to run their trains 24/7. CP has the upper hand.
You can also read Mayor Robertson’s response at the foot of which is the statement from CP which appears to confirm Maturalmystic’s prediction
“We are testing crossing signals, and assessing pedestrian and vehicle crossings to understand where, if any, maintenance is required.”
Strange days, indeed.
Most peculiar mama.
9 comments:
I wonder what the long game is? From 500 km away it looks like an exercise in making people hate them; what could possibly be the point?
Could it be some spiteful personal little exercise like the New Jersey bridge debacle?
Welll! not to put too fine a point on it, I'd think we need to roll the tape back a few metres and recall those folks along the Cambie corridor who had their lives put on hold (and worse) so that the Canada Line wouldn't interfere with the lifestyle of those creme de la creme folks who live in Kerrisdale.
Seems to me the people in the more working class neighbourhoods on the east side may view this current imbroglio with more than a little schadenfreude...The logical place for the Canada Line was the CP right of way and it could have been built (probably at grade from most of the way) a hell of a lot cheaper than the Olympic special we got from the GORD.
Agreed Garth. I live west of the Arbutus corridor and I am delighted in the poetic justice being done to the crème de la crèmes…..
CP was making noise about this as far back as January of this year, and then formally gave notice in May. Plenty of time to transplant the early starts to a new garden plot.
Part of the court case the city brought to the game was the claim that the city wanted to keep the corridor as a public transit corridor.
CP knows damn well that this city has a charter that indemnifies it from damages. CP also knows damn well that Robertson is in bed with developers, just not the same developers as the NPA.
The city is going to have to cough up a lot more money to secure that parcel plain and simple.
One thing we can be absolutely count on? There is dirty work afoot.
Canada is rotten to the core with corruption especially since, Harper's robo-call election scam.
BC has always been, the most corrupt province in Canada. Think back to, Gordon Campbell's theft and corrupt sale of the BCR. Ditzy Christy denies she had a hand the theft. However, we know different.
Damned right, there is dirty work afoot. It wouldn't be BC, if there aren't dirty tactics afoot.
force a sale?
I was driving over the track at one of the crossing signals down there the other day, can't remember which one, but it's around 4th Ave. Have you seen the amount of natural growth along there? It's like 4 or 5' tall, shrubs/bushes .. not to mention there's some car dealers etc around there with vehicles parked right up to the track .. they won't be able to stay (if trains really do start rolling). The poor folks with gardens along there will likely be the least of CP's problems as far as the clean up goes, if you compare what I saw the other day.
Just wondering how the "community gardeners" would have responded if CPR had extended their right of way onto the gardener's properties. They should be thankful for the crops and free access that they had for as long as they did.CPR's actions kind of validates the occupation of surveyors and the concept of private property.
CP and the NPA are joined at the hip. You can't tell me this isn't a coordinated attack against Vision/Gregor.
Here's some info that I was told, I don't know how valid, some one would have to verify. CP does not own the land itself, the city of Vancouver already owns it. All CP owns is the right to use the corridor and if they don't hurry up and use it soon they will lose that right of way. So why is the city offering to pay CP for land it all ready owns? Some dirty work afoot indeed!
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