Good! I have many similar concerns during last election which led only to dis-appointment.
I am about to become a senior and will have to leave New West in order to survive.
I have watched taxes increases with many levels of government in my pocket, both elected and un-elected(spell Translink).
The
amount of money spent on police, the incredible high cost of staffing
(60% of revenues)and with money gained from Casino's we should be the
best off city in GVRD. We are not! Services all have been cut back in
order to afford the high standard of living of our staff and union ized
employees. We can not continue to allow standards to be set for
remuneration by other cities and municipalities that have more
taxpaying industry and and a greater higher income based residents.
I look forward to working with you to get New Westminster back on track.
John Ashdown
|
| In politics, "sound-bites" are a poor substitute for "substance"; and
though I disagree with Wayne Wright that come the November civic
election, the choice between himself and Casey Cook for Mayor is a
choice between "progress" (Wayne) or "process" (Casey), given those
terms of reference, I caution all that it has been my experience that
in the absence of "process", situations of serious consequence arise,
...like having a school district business company accumulate a debt of
over $800,000 against the school district's books. At City Hall, only
through a principle based process will we arrive at principle based
decisions, the kind of decisions that yield positive and meaningful
progress for the whole of the community. That Casey Cook has put his
name forward as candidate for Mayor of New Westminster is not just
"good for New Westminster", it is NECESSARY.
Lisa Graham, New Westminster School Trustee |
| After
thirty years in the railway transport business, New westminster is
coming of age with good public transportation on the rails. Regionally,
we have to use the C.P.R. Westminster Subdivision from below Sapperton
Station to the West Coast Express in Coquitlam. This line was a given
after The West Coast Express decided to use the C.P.R. mainline in
1993. The cancellation of the Skytrain line between Lougheed mall and
Edmonds in the same year, led to the Columbia-Lougheed Mall extention.
These
two plans under B.C. Transit were approved by The North-East
Transportation Committee. The job remains unfinished due to Translink
taking over transportation at the regional level.
Sustainable
public transport alternatives make living attractable for New
Westminster, however being in the geographic centre and high growth in
the North-East sector we need safe reliable commuter rail. We have that
just 7 miles away or 12 minutes by rail. That is not fast, that is
freight speed. But it will beat Skytrain winding over the hills of
Coquitlam to the same destination.
So we just extend the C.P.R. B.C. government rail agreement 7 miles.
C.P.
Rail says its a go if we were asked. That has not happened. Considering
Seattle and Los Angeles use the same commuter rail equipment Translink
has missed the point.
The next Mayor of New Westminster will be
asked to make the choice for this community. Mr. Wright who sat on the
Translink Board did not address the issue, despite the studies being
done.
In his first term as Mayor, like a rookie he sat back and realized the league he was in.
Casey
has been in the league for awhile and lots of players move from the
bench to the manager's chair. Good luck coaching a new team of
councillors from the mayor's chair Casey.
Bryan Vogler
|
