Planning initiatives in the Burquitlam Station Neighbourhood

Let's see - we have a Transit Oriented Development Strategy or TDS.
The city as a new TDS which is a recent key initiative.  You can read the document on their website.
Among the items in this document, there is the introduction of the Community Amenity Contribution or CAC.
This brochure explains the new program but only applies if there is a rezoning or redevelopment.

In conjunction with this, there will be an update to the Burquitlam and Lougheed Neighbourhood Plans starting in early 2014.  The completion is aimed for early 2015 so it appears this will be a year long process.

It's nice to see this is finally getting going. Like the "Nevergreen line" which finally came to pass, the Burquitlam Neighbourhood Plan is long overdue and was formerly targeted for September 2013. 

Power outage

Thank you, EGRT for the power outage today.  It's great that we get no warning, and there is no consideration for the people that live here.  Thank you for making our lives a little bit harder than you already do.  We don't mind you coming in and making a bunch of noise and tearing up the joint.  But how about some consideration for the people that live and work here?

Traffic - with a comment

Temporary Nighttime Closures of Como Lake Avenue

between Clarke Road and Elmwood Street
 

As part of the assembly of the launching truss for the Evergreen Line, there will be temporary nighttime closures of Como Lake Avenue between Clarke Road and Elmwood Street on November 23 and November 30. Crews will be using a large crane to move the launching truss into its final position so that it is ready to hoist segments and begin construction of the elevated guideway.

• Nearby residents can expect noise related to nighttime construction activities, including the use of heavy machinery. Every effort will be made to minimize noise and disruptions when possible.

Really?  More than there has been?  Call me jaded but it seems to me that we're already experiencing a lot of nighttime noise during the week.  And as per my previous post, even when they aren't working, they leave stuff going.  Is this an effort to make things so bad we'll hardly notice the annoyance of the Skytrain once it is running because anything will be better than this?

Bright lights, big city

For no discernible reason, EGRT has decided to leave the lights on.  All the time.  Whether they are working or not.
So this is what shines in the windows of the local residents.

First, it is really really bright.  In fact, it's a bid eery coming into a dark room with this light on behind the curtains.  It's like the aliens are landing their space ship.

Second, what a waste of electricity.   Has nobody taught these people the value of turning out the lights?  Where were their mothers when they were growing up?

Third, and most amazingly, is to date, nobody has complained!  It seems everyone just figures it's part of the construction. But it isn't. And it's annoying.

EGRT, be good neighbours  - last one to leave, turn out the lights!

Construction update - Coquitlam

Tree and Brush Removals on East Side of Coquitlam Centre Parking Lot Adjacent to Pinetree Way 
 

Tree and brush will be removed on the east side of the Coquitlam Centre parking lot to prepare for construction of the Evergreen Line elevated guideway and the future Lincoln Station. This will start the week of November 11 and continue intermittently for approximately three weeks. All work will be completed prior to November 30.

WHAT TO EXPECT

• To accommodate tree removals, there will be reduced parking along the eastern perimeter of the Coquitlam Centre parking lot adjacent to Pinetree Way. Temporary construction fencing will be installed and all changes will be well-signed. Traffic control personnel will be on-site to assist drivers as needed.
• The work will take place Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for approximately two weeks. Every effort will be made to minimize noise and disruptions.
• Daytime noise including the use of heavy machinery should be expected as part of this work.
• There will be temporary closures of the sidewalk on the west side of Pinetree Way between Glen Drive and Lougheed Highway. Pedestrians and cyclists will be detoured to the east side of Pinetree Way. Traffic control personnel will be on-site to assist pedestrians and cyclists when required.
• Drivers are advised that there may be lane shifts on Pinetree Way, Lougheed Highway, and on Lincoln Avenue at the entrance to the shopping centre while this work is underway.
• For the safety of all pedestrians, please follow traffic control personnel and posted signs while construction is underway.

Crews will begin construction of the guideway and new station in early 2014. There may be changes to vehicle access and parking within the parking lot. Any changes will be communicated in advance.

Please watch for construction signs, drive with caution, and obey traffic control personnel.

Construction Bulletin - Barnet

Temporary Pedestrian and Cyclist Detours as Part of the Barnet Highway Full Closure Pedestrians and cyclists will also be detoured as part of the full closure of Barnet Highway, between Ioco Road and Dewdney Trunk Road, over the Remembrance Day long weekend (November 8 to 11) and potentially the following weekend (November 15 to 18). Crews will be pushing a large concrete structure into position below Barnet Highway, adjacent to Ioco Bridge. This structure will ultimately contain a portion of the station platform and guideway. In order to accomplish this “push,” the roadway must be temporarily closed as a portion of the roadway above will be removed. As part of this work, a pedestrian and cyclist detour plan will be in effect. More detailed information about this closure is available on the Evergreen Line Project website: www.evergreenline.gov.bc.ca. WHAT TO EXPECT From Friday, November 8 at 9 p.m. until Tuesday, November 12 at 6 a.m., pedestrians and cyclists will be detoured to the East Port Moody Pedestrian/Cyclist Overpass pedestrian bridge (as shown on the diagram in blue). A free shuttle for pedestrians will also be available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. This shuttle will travel from St. Johns Street to the Suter Brook area (route shown on the diagram in yellow). Pedestrians wishing to use the free shuttle should go the north side of St. Johns Street just east of Dewdney Trunk Road or to the west side of Morrissey Road south of Murray Street. This shuttle will operate as a continuous service with no set schedule (as shown on the diagram in pink). If an additional weekend roadway closure is required, pedestrians and cyclists would be detoured to the East Port Moody Pedestrian/Cyclist Overpass pedestrian bridge from Friday, November 15 at 9 p.m. until Monday, November 18 at 6 a.m. Every effort will be made to minimize disruptions and maximize traffic flow and predictability during construction activities. Drivers, pedestrians and cyclists are asked to please watch for construction signs and obey traffic control personal while this section of Barnet Highway is temporarily closed. To contact EGRT Construction, the contractor who is building the Evergreen Line, please call 604-927-2080, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you have comments or questions about the Evergreen Line Rapid Transit Project, please call the Evergreen Line Project Office at (604) 927-4452 or email info@evergreenline.gov.bc.ca.

EGRT Construction updates - Port Moody Exchange

Upcoming Changes at the Port Moody Transit Exchange The next phase of changes at the Port Moody Transit Exchange and West Coast Express (WCE) station park-and-ride facility will go into effect on Monday, November 4. As part of the new configuration, the passenger pick-up and drop-off area and TransLink bus loop have shifted. Drivers wishing to access the passenger pick-up and drop-off area must use Spring Street and drive through the parking lot on the northwest corner of Spring Street and Williams Street. To exit the passenger pick-up and drop-off area, drivers will need to go through the parking lot on the northeast corner of Spring Street and Hugh Street (entrance and exit routes shown on the map below in orange). Drivers will no longer have access to the Port Moody Transit Exchange and WCE station and park-and-and-ride facility via Williams Street. Williams Street will be for bus use only. Signage will be in place to indicate changes to the location of the pick-up and drop-off area and the bus loop for drivers and pedestrians. Construction fencing will be installed between the passenger pick-up and drop-off area and the bus loop. Please watch for signage directing pedestrians on how to access the bus loop and WCE station platform. Parking for WCE park-and-ride customers is available in four locations as shown on the map in yellow. WCE customers wishing to use the parking lot on the west side of the park-and-ride facility will continue to use Hugh Street to access this lot. There will be no change to the number of parking stalls available to customers. Additional changes at the Port Moody Transit Exchange and WCE station are scheduled to occur in the coming months and WCE and transit customers will be notified in advance. Details of Work: Access to the WCE Port Moody Station will be maintained at all times. There will be no changes in access to the WCE platform during this phase of construction. The existing WCE station access points are shown on the map in pink. Traffic control personnel will be on-site to assist drivers. The location of the WCE Train Bus stop will be shifted to the east side of Williams Street just north of Spring Street. Cyclists and pedestrians may be stopped on occasion and should watch for traffic control personnel. Once changes to access and the parking lot are complete, crews will begin building the Evergreen Line’s Moody Centre Station. Expect construction-related noise while work is underway. A key goal of the Evergreen Line Rapid Transit Project is to minimize construction-related disruption and maximize traffic flow and predictability during construction activities. Drivers are asked to watch for construction signs and obey traffic control personnel. To contact EGRT Construction, the contractor who is building the Evergreen Line, please call 604-927-2080, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you have comments or questions about the Evergreen Line Rapid Transit Project, please call the Evergreen Line Project Office at 604-927-4452 or email info@evergreenline.gov.bc.ca.

Election results

I know it was only a by-election, but Really???? only 9% of the Coquitlam residents could be bothered to get off their butts over a 2 week period and cast a ballot??  But the other 91% will sure complain when their taxes go up, or when some councillor oversteps their boundaries and demands a discount from their business.  THEN they will complain. 
What is wrong with the population that they think it is okay to not get involved, even in this small democratic process?  Were the polls too hard to get to?  Did you think there were issues? (There are, but they are Coquitlam-type issues such as 'why are the shoppers at Coquitlam Centre chasing a bear in the parking lot').
This is just sad.
PartyX has some good ideas but they aren't working completely because we are still not getting people interested.

PartyX talks about Voter apathy:

Discontent with Democracy

Churchill once said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” The best of the worst may not be good enough, especially when there is a growing level of discontent with traditional political institutions.
It’s hard to have faith that our current models of democracy will be able to respond to the complex global challenges of environmental destruction, war and inequality; progress simply isn’t being made at the speed or efficiency necessary.
These are  the top five areas PartyX sees opportunity for improvement.

1) Voter Disengagement

Rates of public participation are falling in democracies around the world; there is widespread disengagement with the formal political process.

2) Polarization from Limited Options

When decisions are made by majority vote, the unequal distribution of satisfaction creates resistance to outcomes, instability and wasted effort. When there is a limited set of choices in a decision, there’s rarely an opportunity to develop positive compromises.

3) Limited Stakeholder Connectivity

With the infrequency of elections, politicians can too easily become disconnected from the distributed expertise and intelligence of the population they represent.

4) Susceptibility to Lobbyists

The centralization of decision-making power can allow for the disproportionate influence by professional lobbyists acting on behalf of special interests. This can be compounded by election finance rules, which creates reliance between politicians and organized interests.

5) Short-Term Horizon

The voting cycle of representative democracy creates a system that’s too focused on short-term planning; there is no inherent incentive to make long-term decisions that do not have a positive impact on politicians’ ability to get reelected. Meanwhile, new governments often spend a large part of their efforts undoing the work of prior governments that did the same thing.

 well good on you, 9%, for overcoming the above.  And for the rest of you, no griping, you had your chance.

Oh and congrats to Chris Wilson and Bonita Zarillo.  Looking forward to some good management in the Burquitlam area.

Upcoming byelection

The Burquitlam Community Association recently held an all candidate's meeting for the upcoming by-election.  Bits of it are appearing on their website.  The format was interesting.  I didn't get the feeling that everyone was given a fair shake at the questions, first of all.  This was unfortunate as there were some questions I was hoping to hear the answers from specific people and seemingly randomly someone else would be called. 
One question I did wonder about was the question about someone having to be resident in Coquitlam to run.   Apparently the criteria is:

A person is qualified to be nominated, elected, and to hold office as a member of local government if they meet the following criteria:

• Canadian citizen;
• 18 years of age or older on or before general voting day;
• resident of British Columbia for at least 6 months immediately before the day nomination papers are filed; and
• not disqualified by the Local Government Act or any other enactment   from voting in an election in British Columbia or from being nominated for, being elected to, or holding office.
   

 So I guess having someone who doesn't live in Coquitlam is best for Coquitlam?  Well why not?  They can't do worse than someone who marginalizes Burquitlam because they live a half hour away on the eastern edge of the city. 

Burquitlam is a funny area - on the eastern edge of Burnaby and western edge of Coquitlam.  This area has a slightly higher aging population than the rest of Coquitlam.  The area has a higher ethnic content based on language spoken at home, compared to the rest of Coquitlam. Not surprisingly the household income in Burquitlam is less than the rest of Coquitlam.  It is understandable that people in this area are upset about their taxes rising.  But the reality is that as the metro Vancouver area moves here with the access to transit, rents and taxes will increase.  Sadly that means some of the people who have been here for awhile may be driven out.

But it doesn't have to mean that we let people who don't even go through this area on a daily basis make decisions about what is best for us.  Interesting to note that a candidate, when asked how he could possibly justify representing Burquitlam since he had never been to a meeting, side-stepped the question.  Interesting to note that only two candidates and one current Councillor have even been to the Burquitlam Community Association meeting.  Let's leave it at that.

The pains of construct

Last week Hydro cut the power.  They are moving the lines for the skytrain.  Wait - they couldn't finish it in the time allotted so 3 days ago we had a repeat.  No power.

Today's email brought more good news:

As part of Shaw's ongoing commitment to provide our customers with the best possible service, we will be performing maintenance and/or network upgrades in your area on Thursday, October 17, 2013 sometime between 3:00 AM - 7:00 AM local time for less than 4 hours.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your patience and understanding. Please be assured that the interruptions will be as brief as possible and that our technicians will be working diligently to minimize this service outage.

For technical assistance please contact our local Shaw Business Internet Technical Support number:1-877-SHAWBIZ (1-877-742-9249) or email: shawbusinessvancouverhelp@sjrb.ca.

 We know the cables are part of the whole hydro thing.  Why they can't do it at the same time is beyond me.  Why don't all these guys get it together?  No matter, it is 3am and I'm sure it will be done without a hitch :^|  Of course the weird part is it always addresses us business customers.  Shaw doesn't seem to know this is a residence.  Of course they don't care because - well - they are Shaw and there is a reason they don't have our phone service.

But wait!  Just in case you don't have enough in your email today:

CONSTRUCTION BULLETIN Port Moody October 11, 2013

Temporary Night-time Construction on Clarke Street As part of ongoing Evergreen Line utility relocation work, there will be temporary night-time construction work on Clarke Street between Elgin Street and Grant Street starting the week of October 14. Crews will be installing a storm sewer underneath the westbound HOV lane on Clarke Street. Night-time road closures and temporary parking restrictions on Clarke Street will be required from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday to Saturday. This night-time work is required due to high volumes of daytime traffic on Clarke Street and will take approximately four to six weeks to complete. Please note that the schedule will shift slightly if there is inclement weather. Activities will also be co-ordinated with the work the City of Port Moody at the Moody Street overpass. Nearby residents can expect noise related to night-time construction activities, including saw cutting and the use of heavy machinery. Every effort will be made to minimize noise and disruptions when possible. WHAT TO EXPECT Phase I: Starting the week of October 14, Clarke Street between Elgin Street and Mary Street will be closed nightly and motorists will be detoured to St. Johns Street. There will be temporary no parking restrictions on both the north and south sides of Clarke Street between Queens Street and Mary Street. Phase II: Starting the week of October 21 (weather dependent), Clarke Street between Kyle Street and Grant Street will be closed nightly and motorists will be detoured to St. Johns Street. There will be temporary no parking restrictions on both the north and south sides of Clarke Street between Kyle Street and Grant Street. Phase III: Starting the week of October 28 (weather dependent), Clarke Street between Kyle Street and Moody Street will be closed nightly and motorists will be detoured to St. Johns Street. There will be temporary no parking restrictions on the north side of Clarke Street between Mary Street and Grant Street. On the south side of Clarke Street there will be temporary no parking restrictions between Mary Street and Moody Street. Drivers are asked to watch for construction signs and traffic control personnel, drive with caution, and obey posted construction speed limits.

So this is more fun during the night time hours.  And the big freaking machine is arriving, if you don't already know you can watch the webcams   http://wcs.pbaeng.com/projects/R1_Transit

Also, here is a snazzy picture of how the pieces go in, and to think I'll be watching this from my kitchen window!   It doesn't get any better.