Here We Go Again !

While Vancouver Roads Are Crumbling, City Plans Another Bridge Renovation

Is Vancouver “The City of 10,000 Holes” ?

If we were to change the name of Vancouver, it could very aptly be called “The City of 10,000 Holes”. The term would still be lacking in description, however, since you have to add the 10,000 bumps, patches and all road irregularities that make driving in Vancouver a miserable and unsafe experience. It’s reminiscent of European towns that were bombed during World War II. With all the money paid to city engineers, the roads messed up in Vancouver by construction projects seem to remain messed up permanently, with no sign of  any attempt to repair the damage. Commuters had thought they had seen the last of millions of dollars wasted on traffic diversions, empty concrete bike lanes, and superfluous bridge renovations, but alas. After putting commuters through the Burrard-Pacific torture chamber for a whole year, the City is now planning to apply the same or worse mess to Granville Street bridge.

 

Referendum, Not A Consultation Charade

Most people learned of the project halfway through the so-called consultation, if at all. The real question is if the city should waste millions on a fancy project while the roads of Vancouver are crumbling and putting third world countries to shame.

Our Roads Are Part of The Environment, Too

Former mayor Robertson and his team were obsessed with bike lanes, traffic obstructions and diversions, and making driving a real pain for commuters. We thought we’d seen the last of it with the municipal elections and his decision not to run.

CM

October 13, 2019

Canada Safeway Joins The Ludicrous Grocery Bag Environmentalist Scam

Safeway Parking Lot On Davie Street Was Empty On Friday, As Customers Are Switching To Save-On Foods

As we were heaping praise on Canada Safeway for honourable consumer behaviour for staying out of the grocery bag scam under the pretense of saving the planet, the motive for extra profit must have been too irresistible for the company. Safeway announced that as of May 6, 2021 it would no longer provide free plastic bags to customers, requiring instead that they bring their own reusable bags into the store with the risk of spreading germs including the Covid-19 virus, or pay for paper bags. Paper bags are far from being a viable alternative to plastic bags. They are expensive to produce, not strong enough for heavy items, and  very difficult to carry. While an average adult can carry 10 full plastic bags or more, he or she can’t hold more than a couple of paper bags. That’s why biodegradable plastic grocery bags were created to stop the meaningless decimation of forests. Government-owned BC Liquor Stores adopted the same policy a year ago, but then the government can afford to be stupid and give bad service to customers. For the past 3 years major retailers have added millions of dollars of extra profits to their bottom line by charging fees for bags which, under an ages-old commercial tradition had to be provided by merchants free of charge, since the cost of bags is already factored into the selling price of goods. No compensatory reduction in price of goods sold has even been pretended by the scamming retailers. Safeway-Sobeys CEO has not responded to a written inquiry sent by a Canada Chronicle reporter. Our reporter observed in the Davie Street store yesterday  that the few Safeway shoppers at checkout limited their purchases to what they could carry in their hands. That’s a substantial and hard-to ignore reduction of grocery purchases.