The Livable Blog

Since Amy Goodman was harassed by Canadian border officials on her way to a presentation here in Vancouver, I have been watching Democracy Now semi-regularly. This segment is very interesting, it is mostly about how corporate money has corrupted some big environmental groups. But the conclusion is that people getting out on the street and taking direct action is the way to drive real change, for example stopping airport expansion in the UK.

The Real Climategate: Conservation Groups Align with World’s Worst Polluters

Major environmental groups are coming under criticism from within their own ranks for taking positions that some say are antithetical to their stated missions of saving the planet. In the latest issue of The Nation magazine, the British journalist Johann Hari writes, “As we confront the biggest ecological crisis in human history, many of the green organizations meant to be leading the fight are busy shoveling up hard cash from the world’s worst polluters—and burying science-based environmentalism in return…In the middle of a swirl of bogus climate scandals trumped up by deniers, here is the real Climategate.”

Guests:

Johann Hari, columnist for the London Independent. His article for The Nation is called ‘The Wrong Kind of Green’

Christine MacDonald, journalist who used to work for Conservation International, or CI. She is the author of Green, Inc.: An Environmental Insider Reveals How a Good Cause Has Gone Bad.

Watch the show at http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/9/the_real_climategate_conservation_groups_align

Read 'The Wrong Kind of Green' at
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100322/hari

Well, here we go again. Another budget, another step towards cooking our only planet.

With apologies to WorldWatch Magazine, which has a 'matter of scale' section in every edition here is my quickie analysis:

BC Transportation Budget 2010-11 A matter of scale:

Total Provincial Roadway Expenditures $860 million
Total Provincial Transit Plan $173 million
Gateway Program – Lower Mainland $128 million
Oil and Gas Roads Improvement Program $51 million
Cycling Infrastructure $3 million
Sidewalk Program $0
(The word 'sidewalk' does not appear in the document)

Roads to transit and cycling ratio 4.8:1

Roads to cycling ratio 287:1

Roads to sidewalk ratio Infinite

Transit (Province Wide) to Gateway ratio 1.4:1

Source: Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure 2010/11 2012/13 Service Plan ‘Transportation Investments’ table P 30
http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2010/sp/pdf/ministry/trans.pdf

Photo by Eric Doherty: Many streets in BC do not have any sidewalks at all, even in school zones

So how far do you think the Ministry will get towards meeting these goals?

Goal 3: Reduction of greenhouse gas for the transportation sector

Objective 3.1: Increase use of transit, cycling and other alternative modes of personal transportation

Great time for a letter to the editor!

Photo - Stephen Hui, Georgia Straight

GATEWAYSUCKS.ORG and the COUNCIL OF CANADIANS (Delta/Richmond chapter)

MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release
March 1, 2010

Post-Olympic budget crunch may benefit environment

As the Olympic euphoria fades and attention shifts to the provincial budget, local environmental and social justice groups are calling attention to the billions British Columbia's government plans to spend on freeway building.

“We can't just stand and watch as billions are wasted on these destructive freeways while transit service and essential social programs are cut” says Cathy Wilander, chair of the Delta/Richmond chapter of the Council of Canadians, Canada's largest public advocacy organization. “And the post-Olympic budget crunch will make it much easier to stop this freeway building binge.”

The provincial government kicked off a massive plan to add over 1,000 km of new highway lanes when they expanded the Sea-to-Sky Highway for the Olympics. The plan includes the controversial “Gateway” Program, linked to the federal government's Pacific Gateway Strategy, now estimated to cost $21 billion in freeway and port expansion on BC's west coast.

The expansion of the Port Mann/Highway 1 freeway from Vancouver to Langley was suspended during the Olympics, but is set to resume. The new Port Mann Bridge is planned to be the widest in Canada.

Eviction and demolition of historic riverside homes to make way for the South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR) in nearby Delta proceeded throughout the Games. As many as 300 homes in Delta and Surrey could be demolished for this new freeway.

“These were not the 'Greenest Games', they were the Freeway Olympics,” says transportation planner and GatewaySucks.org organizer Eric Doherty. “The BC government has been attempting to brand itself as a 'Green Leader' during these games, yet their own studies show that provincial greenhouse gas emission targets are being undermined by their massive freeway expansion scheme.” Doherty also points to the thousands of acres of productive farmland under threat from the freeways. “There is nothing green about paving farmland,” he states.

The Gateway program has been met with an ongoing grassroots campaign of civil disobedience. In December, 50 people including University of British Columbia Professor Patrick Condon, occupied a Highway 1 expansion site in East Vancouver. Demolition of homes on the SFPR route has been disrupted by similar action on two occasions.

-30-

A $1 Billion Hangover From an Olympic Party
By IAN AUSTEN
Published: February 24, 2010
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Josie Lombardi came downtown this week for a taste of the Olympics accompanied by a friend rather than her husband, because he is on an Olympics boycott. She was thrilled to see the Olympic caldron up close, she said, but after being told she would have to wait five hours to see an exhibit of Olympic medals, Mrs. Lombardi began to think her husband might have a point.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/sports/olympics/25vancouver.html

As the 'Greenest Games' continue, despite the lack of snow, work continues on Canada's widest freeway bridge. Maybe that is the green they mean, $1.2 billion for the bridge alone. Not to mention all the GM cars to drive on it, and the Petro Canada gas from the tar sands . . .

But don't worry, we have 20 hydrogen powered buses in Whistler now.

February 19, 2010

Photo BRADLEY FEHR

The pylons to support the new Port Mann Bridge are taking shape on the east side of the crossing.

New Port Mann Bridge to be widest in Canada

JEAN SORENSEN - Journal of Commerce

The new $1.2 billion, 10-lane Port Mann toll bridge is intended to become a landmark. It was designed by U.S.-based T.Y. Lin International (TYLI) of San Francisco.

“The new bridge will be an iconic structure – it will be the widest bridge in Canada, and the two pylons (towers) will rise approximately 110 metres above the bridge deck, providing some 40 meters navigation clearance,” said Stephen N. Docherty, the bridge section manager for Transportation Investment Corp. (TIC), a crown corporation.

The new bridge over the Fraser River will be about two kilometres in overall length.

[snip]

When a P3 deal fell through with the MacQuarie Group (part of the Connect BC Development Group), the government turned to a design-build, fixed-price contract with joint-venture partners Peter Kiewit Sons Co. and Flatiron Constructors Canada Limited for the Port Mann and Highway 1 project. The total project cost is $2.4 billion.

Design details and construction engineering is by International Bridge Technologies, Inc. (IBT) based in San Diego, but with a Coquitlam office.

IBT was previously involved with the Pitt River Bridge and the Coast Meridian Overpass.

[snip]

The 65-metre (213-ft) wide superstructure consists of two five-lane decks, separated by a 10-metre (32-ft) median, where the central pylons are located.

“It will be a real highlight to the city,” said Frank Margitan, vice-president of Peter Kiewit Sons Co. (Western Canada) speaking recently to the B.C. Roadbuilders and Heavy Construction Association.

[snip]

Margitan said that when the design came forward for the single tower cable stayed bridge, his firm questioned the design choice. A second opinion was obtained to verify structural integrity, he said, because his company guaranteed the project.

Margitan said that using the single pylon design (and pier combination), was also unique to Canada, although another bridge like it existed in China.

[snip]

The new bridge will require 12,900 TNE of structural steel, 151,000 cubic metres of concrete and 279 piles and 96 caissons. Geotechnical services were supplied by Shannon & Wilson Inc. based in Seattle and environmental engineering by AMEC, which has offices in B.C.

[snip]

full text at http://www.joconl.com/article/id37641