The Livable Blog

Cathy Wilander and Eric Doherty: Scrub the greenwash off the Freeway Olympics

By Cathy Wilander and Eric Doherty

Many people are asking: Why protest the Olympics when the money is already spent and most of the damage is done?

The reason we will be out on the streets on Friday (February 12) to welcome the Olympic torch and opening ceremony is to highlight the real story and the real costs of the Games and related projects. An informed public is our best hope of stopping such multi-billion-dollar boondoggles in the future.

If the truth about these Games is not exposed, more destructive megaprojects will follow, and B.C. residents will be left paying off the debt, breathing the pollution, and watching global warming spiral out of control. But if we speak up loud and clear, public resources can be redirected toward making our province a better place to live instead of financing the destruction of our environment and communities.

The 2010 Winter Olympics have been branded the “Greenest Games”. But the Games are linked to a massive freeway expansion scheme which is already boosting consumption of tar sands oil and funnelling dirty money into the pockets of Olympic sponsors such as General Motors, Petro-Canada, the Royal Bank, and TransCanada Pipelines. The previous Winter Games in Italy were bad enough, but at least they included a pledge to avoid any major roadway expansion. The 2010 Games are a huge step backwards for environmental standards at the Olympics. [snip]

Full text and links at
http://www.straight.com/article-286495/vancouver/cathy-wilander-and-eric-doherty-scrub-greenwash-freeway-games

(If you like the article, you might want to click on recommend on the straight website or say so in the comments section)

Infrastructure Bigs: To Compete, NYC Needs Congestion Pricing, Tolls

by Noah Kazis on February 1, 2010
At a panel put on by the New School last week, some of New York's biggest players in transportation and planning came together to discuss the future of the city's infrastructure. They all seemed to agree: The city can't keep up with its global competitors without new sources of revenue.
http://tinyurl.com/yeoyzhu

Greenest Games or Freeway Olympics?

GatewaySucks.org is proud to partner with the Council of Canadians, Canada's largest public advocacy organization, to challenge the freeway building and corporate greenwashing promoted by the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

Together we will "greet" the Olympic Torch Relay when it arrives at Delta Municipal Hall on Feb. 9 at 3pm, and join the Take Back Our City festival and parade in Vancouver on Feb. 12, also at 3pm. Join us! We will provide signs and banners at both events.

Tuesday Feb. 9, 3 pm: Delta Municipal Hall - 4500 Clarence Taylor Crescent (5 min walk from Ladner Exchange bus loop) http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Ladner+Exchange,+Delta,+BC+(Ladner+Exchange+-+Bus+Loop)&daddr=Delta+municipal+hall&geocode=CcjU76QZyX7XFewE7QIdYjiq-CFdfAN4og-xiw%3BFWj47AIdz0iq-CGvtqd2AHjcAA&hl=en&mra=pe&mrcr=0&dirflg=w&sll=49.086122,-123.060312&sspn=0.013547,0.037894&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=17 [note that you walk through the parking lot, not around as Shown on Google Maps]

Friday Feb. 12 3pm: Vancouver Art Gallery - Georgia Street between Howe & Hornby (near Granville station & Vancouver City Centre station)

For more information see:

http://www.gatewaysucks.org/freeway-olympics

http://www.canadians.org/olympics/index.html

http://2010welcoming.wordpress.com/

Map showing location of trail head - detail below

How close is your favorite nature trail? Would you be surprised that a beautiful new hiking trail is being opened by the Wilderness Committee and Surrey Environmental Partners not far from the south side of the Port Mann Bridge? The good news is that the South Fraser Witness Trail is officially opening with a short ceremony and guided hike on Saturday January 30th at 11 am.

Nestled along the edge of Surrey Bend Regional Park and the banks of the Fraser River, this lush and magnificent trail will make you forget that major cities are close by. The bad news is that this area is slated to be destroyed to make way for the South Fraser Perimeter Road as part of the Gateway project.

Please join us for the trail opening and see for yourself what is at stake. We need to stop freeway expansion for the sake of local green space, habitat for local species and to slow global warming before it’s too late.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bljGVTrJ4aA

The trail head where we will meet is on 168 St, 400 meters northwest of the intersection of 168 St. and 108 Ave, in Fraser Heights. There is direct bus service from Surrey Central Skytrain on the C74 bus, just get off at 168 St and 108 Ave and walk northwest on 168 St (past 108A Ave).

Google map link - now with transit info:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&q=49.202606,-122.759857%20%28Trailhead%202%20actual%29

The hiking trail has rugged sections and water resistant footwear is recommended. This event will proceed rain or shine and will only be canceled in case of high winds or other dangerous conditions. Please bring water and lunch if you want to go on the hike.

For more information visit www.wildernesscommittee.org, call 604 683 8220 or contact ben@wildernesscommittee.org

Will anyone be surprised if high fuel costs and other factors lead to ongoing revenue shortfalls for the Port Mann and Golden Ears toll freeway projects? The Port Mann deal was put together by Macquarie Bank - an Australian company. It seem that many Australian P3 freeways are little better than billion dollar ponzi scams.

It seems like our Auditor General may be worried about exactly this.

Lane Cove Tunnel in receivership

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 21/01/2010

Reporter: Bronwyn Herbert

Sydney's Lane Cove Tunnel has gone into receivership, with a $1.1 billion bond debt. Transport analysts blame the widely optimistic traffic forecasts for the project’s failings, and some are now asking if it’s a setback for the controversial public private model.

Video at http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2010/s2798318.htm

Transcript
TRACY BOWDEN, PRESENTER: It's the latest in a number of debt-heavy Public Private Partnerships in toll roads around the country to hit financial difficulties, Sydney's Lane Cove Tunnel meant to be a boon for the city's long suffering drivers is in the hands of an administrator after falling more than a billion in the red.

Transport analysts say the project was doomed because it's financial viability was based on wildly optimistic traffic forecasts. What does the setback mean for the controversial public private model?

Bronwyn Herbert reports.

BRONWYN HERBERT, REPORTER: It had a shaky start, a roof collapsed during construction, forced residents to evacuate and predictions of more pollution and smog hit the raw nerves of local residents.

PROTESTER: From today we are at a greatly increased risk of asthma, cancer, heart attacks.

BRONWYN HERBERT: But Sydney's billion dollar Lane Cove Tunnel, that opened with much fanfare in 2007, has crashed into receivership.

TONY SHEPHERD, INFRASTRUCTURE PARTNERSHIPS AUSTRALIA: The traffic was far less than estimated, and of course, they then ran into the GFC and the highest petrol prices we’ve ever had.

LEE RHIANNON, NSW GREENS MP: There's no surprise that the Lane Cove Tunnel financially collapsed. There's been warnings about this for a long time.

BRONWYN HERBERT: Lane Cove Tunnel's financial woes centre on its foolish traffic forecasts a problem mirrored in other debt-heavy toll roads around the country. From Brisbane airport link known as BrisConnect, to Melbourne's ConnectEast Motorway, and Sydney's controversial Cross City Tunnel, which also went into receivership

LEE RHIANNON: The Public Private Partnerships model is really a spin that was brought forward by the industry, by the Government to try to make out that there's partnership. But all the time what we see is the public are the losers.

TONY SHEPHERD: This is one project out of 10 road projects that I’m aware of that’s had some problems; most of the rest of them did extremely well. So I don't think it kills the model, I think the model will be modified.

BRONWYN HERBERT: The Lane Cove Tunnel debacle raises questions of why a tollway in one of the most congested parts of Australia's busiest city could go bust. The full blow of the financial fallout is still to be felt. Some market analysts have valued the tunnel at between $400 and $600 million, far below the $1.6 billion tag it cost to build. The tunnel's owners Connector Motorways has already written off all their equity in the project and it's in the hands of receiver KordaMentha.

DAVID CAMPBELL, NSW TRANSPORT MINISTER: The question here is how did the private sector get the numbers so wrong. The private sector did their own due diligence.

MICHELLE ZEIBOTS, UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY: The culture of failure is something we inherited from the days when motorways were just being built by governments, and basically we had environmental impact statements, but once again, there's no requirement for the science in any of those statements to be robust. And I think that that, I guess, you know, that cowboy type attitude towards the science has been carried over into these provides sector ventures.

BRONWYN HERBERT: Dr Michelle Zeibots is an urban transport planner, specialising in traffic growth in new urban motorway, and says repeated failures of toll roads show it's time for an independent authority to investigate.

MICHELLE ZEIBOTS: We’ve seen the developments fall over, and until somebody in Government decides that this needs to be regulated more strictly, then I don't think we'll see particular change in the way that this is done.

BRONWYN HERBERT: Dr Michelle Zeibots says governments are giving the green lights to projects that use unrealistic forecasts. Connector Motorways predicted up to 115,000 vehicles a day in the Lane Cove Tunnel, yet last month the average daily hit was barely half that mark. [snip]

Full text and video at http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2010/s2798318.htm