Song for an Election Night

Lies of Omission

Both local dailies have been merciless in their criticism of Gregor Robertson and his famous one-zone blackout, with the Province leading the charge.

The Sun says that Transclunk claims upwards of $10 Million are lost each year from unpaid fares.

Get real.

Make that more than $20 Million.

I was the moderator at a Ladner-Robertson debate 6 days ago.

Here's what Gregor Robertson said.

"People need to pay their fair share of Translink."

He said that while not for a moment admitting that he had this charge waiting for him or that he was going to go to court to contest it.

And we are being asked to trust him.

He also said on that evening that we need a mental health advocate for the city.

Of course, we desperately need a mental health worker for City Hall, but that's another story, isn't it?

Robertson's argument for a new mental health advocate is this: We already have a drug policy coordinator and and homelessness coordinator and "they add incredible value to the city."

These are direct quotes.

So...

If the drug policy coordinator and the homelessness coordinator add such incredible value to the city, then things have definitely changed for the better, right?

Oh.

They haven't?

Gee.

He sure is cute.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

One entire page (B1, which I cannot find online) in the Sun is given over to the shocking news that teen girls who watch TV get pregnant.

Brilliant.

Teen girls have been getting pregnant since time began. It usually happens because teen boys are shtupping them.

Another entire page is given over to real journalism. Gordon Hamilton, in a very thorough and important piece in the business section chronicles what we already knew, but need reminding of - neither the Liberals nor the NDP have the faintest idea what to do about forestry.

Both parties have platforms and promises and both are barely up to the task.

Nobody Really Cares

Here's the sorry reality.

Nobody really cares about Gregor Robertson cheating the SkyTrain or playing silly time in our courts.

You know why?

Because this is an adolescent culture, where crossing the street on a red light in the face of oncoming traffic and parking under signs that say, "Emergency Vehicles Only" is basic to our perpetual need to be teen rebels.

Cheating the SkyTrain is fun.

The Sun, by the way, hasn't even reported the story. Or did I miss it?

No, Gregor will be elected Mayor and we will have a council even worse the the present one, which is already the worst in living memory.

Gregor will be elected by all those female co-workers of a dear friend of mine.

You know why they're voting for him?

"'Cause he's real cute!"

I suspect Gregor has been getting away with a lot of things his whole life long because he's real cute.

What he and his friends are going to do to this city will not be cute.

Justice Run by Lunatics

Alexander is now permitted escorted day passes from a minimum-security-prison healing village in Harrison Mills in the Fraser Valley.

This is the man who stabbed a woman - his next-door neighbour - 83 times.

He is coming up for parole and the victim's family is mounting a petition to protest the possibility of his getting the parole.

But, thanks to the geniuses who run Corrections Canada and the National Parole Board, this sweet fellow, who was caught in a sting when he agreed to undercover cops to kill another woman, is now on day freaking passes.

What is a "healing village?"

And what is this psycho-killer doing in one - whatever it claims to be?

Do you have any idea how dreadful our corrections system is?

How mistaken? How dangerous? How irresponsible?

How blind to the community?

LAST WORDS

Barack Obama and John McCain have both written op-ed pieces in this morning's Wall Street Journal.

Here's Obama's.

Here's McCain's.

You've read and listened to what everyone else in the world has to say.

Now try the candidates.

Other Voices

Here is what I propose:

I would like to improve the public safety and security of Vancouver by:

1. Instituting a zero-tolerance policy for criminals.

2. A better equipped, trained, and funded law enforcement apparatus and a way of ensuring judges not be overly lenient with repeat offenders.

3. Open-air drug selling would be curtailed by working with the federal government to improve certain sections of the Canadian Criminal code.

4. Insure that judges are fully aware and educated on the victimization of normal families in Vancouver because of their leniency with criminal sanctioning.

5. Ensure that every rightful Vancouver resident, no matter if you are rich or poor is being treated with respect and their rights protected because Vancouver residents have lost their sanctuary and sense of security due to the increased sophistication of crime creeping into their (our) neighborhoods.

6. Implement placement programs that will ensure that every Vancouver resident works in a profession that they have chosen for themselves based on their own interest and for the love of the job and not forced to take any job because they have to pay for room rent, and enjoy the job based on the fringe benefits that are included with the chosen job. I would implement “special job placement” programs to match levels of expertise and experience under the responsibility of the mayor of Vancouver.

7. Personally coordinate with all the “job placement agencies,” head a Task Force of Inter-government affairs and demand that the provincial and federal governments come clean with their promises in stepping up their efforts in human resources management.


8. Initiate and implement a Monday to Friday "Seamless-Transfer Transit Pass/ICBC Registration" (STP-ICBC SmartCard) for all eligible drivers who parked their ICBC insured vehicles at the "Park & Ride" or at home. The STP-ICBC SmartCard holders will commute to work in a public transit system and this will reduce the volume of vehicles entering Vancouver.

9. Insure that the city councillors work for Vancouverites so that you are treated with respect and your rights are “protected” as the residents of this great city.

Thanks and best regards,

Jeff Kuah
"The only serious alternative"
For Mayor of Vancouver

Notes From Near and Far

The Truth Will Out

Robertson admits to unpaid SkyTrain fine

Vancouver mayoral candidate says the $173 fine is too high

Confession: This story was handed to me on a plate last weekend. My source asked me to run with it, either on my blog or in my weekend Province column. I gave it a lot of thought, asked advice from several of my closest friends, and decided that this was not for me. Among other concerns, I did not want to be one person responsible for killing Robertson's chance at being mayor - even though I don't support him. I am glad that the story has now surfaced and I am horrified at Robertson's ridiculous response to it.

Here are the basics of the story:

Vancouver mayoral hopeful Gregor Robertson says he has yet to pay a $173 fine for accidentally riding two SkyTrain zones on a one-zone fare because he wants to draw attention to what he calls unreasonably high fines.

Total bull.

This is classic 20-20 hindsight spin and none of it is true.

Here's what really happened:

Robertson says he told the officers it was "a dumb mistake" and paid an extra dollar immediately at a ticketing machine to upgrade his fare for two zones.

The other night - Wednesday - when I was moderating a debate between Robertson and Ladner, Robertson actually claimed that the best transit systems in the world don't charge for longer fare zones, that they charge one single fare no matter how far you ride.

This is completely false.

Every system that I have used anywhere in the world - Dublin, Washington, DC, London, Rome - charge by distance travelled, as they should.

He also claimed that turnstiles that don't allow you in or out until you've fully paid, don't really pay for themselves.

Completely false.

Now, why is he contesting this ticket?

Do you know what that contesting will cost you and me?

Several thousand dollars in court time.

Robertson has already cost the tax payers several hundred thousand dollars by leaving the Legislature to which he was elected by people who trusted him to represent them for the full term of his office to run for mayor - an act of sheer ego and utter indifference to his constituents.

Behind the winning smile is ...what?

You think Gregor Robertson will improve this city?

Gregor Robertson is armed with false reports (including his pathetic and dangerous belief in the "proven science" on safe injection sites...he threatens to open five more Insites on a street near to you soon) and false and expensive ideas.

Go ahead, elect him because he's cute and charming.

And watch the city finances collapse under the weight of inappropriate and expensive social engineering and watch him call for study upon study of policy issues because he doesn't really have a take on anything important.

He just knows that he'd like to be mayor. Sort of...

Message from a Worthy Candidate

Eileen Le Gallais is running for School Trustee. When you see her name on the ballot, do the right thing and mark and X next to it.


First of all – Thank you to everyone who replied to my Candidacy Announcement. Your words of encouragement and support are much appreciated!

Since my last message, I have been knocking on doors and handing out brochures in many Vancouver neighbourhoods. I've attended meetings, fundraising dinners, attended press conferences, given interviews and even set up my own Facebook page! But most importantly, I have been spending time visiting Vancouver schools, and have heard concerns about equitable distribution of educational resources as well as concerns about various safety issues including bullying and seismic upgrading.

I am ready to start addressing these issues with my ususal no-nonsense approach to getting things done, and am very excited about having an opportunity to work with educators, trustees and all levels of government in order to ensure a positive and safe learning environment for every student.

With just 2 weeks until election day, it is not too late to:

1) Spread the word – ask for a lawn sign (all signs will be set up and removed by NPA volunteers). Sincere thanks to those of you already displaying signs.

2) Make a Donation - to cover campaign expenses such as signage, printing, and publicity. Donations can be made through the NPA website. Copy and paste this link on your internet page
(http://www.npavancouver.ca/tabid/212/Default.aspx), or google "NPA, Le Gallais" to find my page on the NPA site. Click on the "donate" button and follow the prompts to make your donation.

3) Volunteer to distribute flyers (See attached word document - We will provide colour copies of this flyer for you to drop in your neighbours’ mail slots or distribute at work – just let us know how many you need.)

Pay Up, Part San (Tre, Trois...)

An excerpt from the 1993 Ahad report on SkyTrain.

3:12 Revenue leakage: There is significant revenue leakage through the barrier free SkyTrain stations. This leakage is estimated at between $10 million to $20 million annually. The current fare evasion monitoring program is not statistically verifiable and the V.P. of SkyTrain concurs with this. Please see Pete Marwick Report of March 6, 1992 confirming FALSIFICATION of fare evasion reports.

It's simple enough, the management of SkyTrain (Translink?) is grossly incompetent.

By the way, and apropos of my insistence that ShyTRain is responsible for thr spread of addictions and crime, do you know what the police routinely call the system?

The Surrey Sewer Line.

Grow Up

Nice to know that all the good community leaders are setting a first-rate example.

Now we only have 4 RCMP officers and one school board chairman facing drunk driving charges.

Read the story here and then throw up.

After that, you can ask anyone running for office or planning to go into police work if he or she has a drinking or adult responsibility problem.

The photo is of Chris Dorais, Chairperson of the Board of Education for North Vancouver. He is facing drunk driving charges.

One of a Kind

There was a time when everyone in the world had a copy of "Working," sticking out of his back pocket.

Studs Terkel, the author of that book and many others and one of the great broadcasters, died yesterday at the age of 96.

The Reuters obit published today in the Sun is a a good one.

Pay Up, Part Deux

Yesterday I told the story of my son and his son arguing about paying for SkyTrain.

Only a few hours later, a friend who is running for office on November 15th told me ove coffee that his 20-year old daughter laughs at the idea of paying on the SkyTrain.

I don't care how many of you claim that turnstiles don't work, I insist that we demand people pay for their fares on public transit.

State of the Onion

Notes from Show Biz Acres...

NBC's weekly half-hour comedy show "30 Rock" has won awards by the bucketful and a full-time career for Alec Baldwin, but it has yet to gather viewers in sufficient numbers to support it.

Why is that?

I'll tell you why.

IT'S NOT FUNNY!

I lasted about 14 laugh-deprived minutes on Thursday night and reached for the gin bottle.

(Kidding...don't have a gin bottle....come on...)

It is so precious, so look-at-me, do sophomoronic that only Tina Fey's cousin could like it.

And - while it's true that Fey's Sarah Palin is a minor if passing stroke of hilaria - this gal is just not falling down hilarious.

If the folks aren't laughing, all the critics praises will get you is a 2% decaf latte with soy, hold the cinnamon sprinkles please.

Meanwhile...

CBC Radio Two has had their bi-annual revolution, in this case throwing out all the "old" and putting front and centre all the new geniuses of broadcasting.

Oy.

There is some girl doing a five-hour stint during the day of playing classical music and shrieking her personal little homilies around the songs. Shmarmy, spoiled, unbearable.

And all those years I didn't enjoy Jurgen Gothe's act on Disc Drive? (Loved the play selection, couldn't take his style.)

Now that he's been replaced by an inarticulate 20 or 30-something stumbling, rumbling bumbling boob, I am NOSTALGIC FOR J.G. Imagine!

What's a Day Without a Little Mo?

Healthy Disagreement #1

Hi David
I respect you for your strongly held opinions, and appreciate hearing all
sides of many issues. Thank you for caring enough to take a stand.

However - I am profoundly disappointed with this endorsement for Peter
Ladner, and the implied consent for Ladner's council decisions -
particularly to leave the Canada Line merchants to bleed a slow financial
death, voting against every initiative to assist our community with
financial relief.

Again - if just one NPA City Councillor had voted with the several motions
to assist the families along Cambie, we would not have suffered such
preventable, fatal harm.
Peter Ladner had further opportunities to rectify this as a member of the
TransLink Board, and did not.

Ladner slammed the door on any kind of financial relief for the small
businesses along the Canada Line repeatedly for the last 3 years, dismissing
our claims for compensation out of hand. The City regularly compensates
citizens and businesses for a variety of 'disruptions'. The level of harm
caused by Canada Line is unprecedented and wrong.

Peter Ladner was on Council when the City voted it's conditional approval
for the RAV project as a bored tunnel under the Cambie Village. We were all
lied to.
These imposed conditions have never been met, and the consequences of this
have needlessly devastated our community for the past three years.

A person with integrity and an understanding for fairness would have called
for a further review of the project when it became clear that what they had
voted on was not the project being built. Our government failed us
completely.

Sullivan, Ladner and Campbell had the opportunity to do the right thing and
instead, they turned a blind eye.
No meaningful consultaion. Behind closed doors meetings. Blatant conflicts
of interest.

I am aghast at this kind of thinking.

It is unconscionable for elected representatives to ride rough-shod over our
rights and our livelihoods in this manner, for known harm they and their
Provincial counterparts have forced upon citizens and communities, that they
could have prevented.

This is not confidence - this is arrogance and self-interest.
And a bent moral compass. Shame on them for allowing this to happen.

Campbell and Ladner to lead by example? Now that's really scary.

The precedent this sets - that our life's work can be expropriated without
compensation, that our livelihoods may be destroyed with impunity, is
reprehensible.

This is not a partisan position. It's called justice and fairness, and
should form the foudation for policy making and conduct from those we elect
to serve the people.

Not how good an actor or politicians are.

Susan

Healthy Disagreement #2

31 October, 2008

Editor:

David Berner! As one so skilled in the art of theatre, you well know that gift of the gab does not a good politician make. And many a bridge has been sold by "self-assured" salesmen who later ended up mired in controversy, even scandal.

I, too, enjoyed the scripts played out by Kennedy and Clinton, but I also recognized that any truths they, and other such eloquent politicians, spoke, was often one they created themselves; and so it is with Peter Ladner and his provincial mentors. To cite but two expensive examples --

His record on TransLink and Council has been of the usual GVRD/Metro variety; go along to get along. Vote, not just with fellow committee members but, far worse, to validate the SkyTrain-Canada Line and Convention Centre dicates of the provincial government - the overruns on which would pay twice over for solutions to the real problems of the city, albeit they are problems without "heft."

Furthermore, Ladner's council, rather than standing up for the "economic welfare of its community," allowed the Campbell government to download the cost of a SkyTrain station onto property taxes.

Yes, Robertson seems to favour a continuance of Insite. But in the media interviews I saw, he also stressed it was only one of ten pillars - the need for treatment being paramount. If it's theatre that's required, then I'm sure the super-bowl of the Downtown Eastside can supply it in spades - and the eloquence of the mentally-ill on those streets will bring tears to your eyes.

Me? Were I a Vancouver voter, I'd rather see a little honest hesitancy about the enormity of the clean-up that's required, than the same old self-assurance of the status quo.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth James

Box 16090, RPO Lynn Valley,

NORTH VANCOUVER, BC

V7J 3S9

MY FRIDAY PROVINCE COLUMN

Ladner's self-assurance convinces me he's best choice as Vancouver's mayor

David Berner,

The Province
Published: Friday, October 31, 2008

My vote for mayor of Vancouver goes to Peter Ladner.

I have nothing against Gregor Robertson. He is a fine fellow.

Both Ladner and Robertson have been described repeatedly as near-twins. Decent men, with silver-spoon backgrounds, young families, brushes with bohemia and small business, they are equally bright, pleasant and somewhat bland.

Either might make a perfectly good mayor, as I said in this space months ago, in the stamp of Philip Owen. They are well spoken and sufficiently versed in the vagaries of public office to do just enough to let people warm to you without making too many enemies.

No question that Gregor Robertson is right out of central casting. Jack Kennedy, Clinton, Barack Obama. He has "the look," but he doesn't have "the gift."

Of course, it is terribly unfair to compare mere mortals to great, natural orators like Kennedy, Clinton and Obama. Nor is it fair to compare what is at stake in these contests. The American leaders play cards at the Big Table -- world economics, war, the struggle for hearts and minds.

The mayor of Vancouver deals with homelessness, addictions, crime, transit, and small business. These matters are not nothing, for sure. But they don't have the same heft.

As the campaign began here, Robertson was accused, with some justification, of lacking substance and specifics. He spoke often of change and hope (like a mini-Obama), but was decidedly short on the rich details that make a story compelling. Now, as we inch closer to Nov. 15th, the Vision team has given Robertson some real grist for his mill -- affordable housing, the arts, and 56 other promises.

Ladner, as well, began with a few microwaved platitudes and declarations of his record. Thankfully, he and the NPA team have also moved on and given us some talking points -- a cap on property taxes, more police and only 54 other undertakings.

Both men are highlighting their commitments to cleaning the streets of crime and homelessness, although in slightly different ways. Ladner, for example, recognizes the contribution of Insite, but wants to find new treatment beds for addicts. Robertson thinks the safe injection sites are marvellous and wants to see more of them throughout the city.

I'm aghast at that kind of thinking, but that's not my reason for endorsing Ladner. My reason isn't a reason at all; it's a gut feeling, a pure instinct, and I've been running on instinct my whole life.

There's a certain hesitancy about Robertson that worries me. He seems to not be quite sure that he wants to be mayor or will know what to do with the role if he wins it. I may be wrong. He may grow into it. That happens to some leaders.

Ladner, on the other hand, has never seemed more relaxed or self-assured in all the years I've known him. He looks ready to be mayor. In fact, he is acting as if he is already mayor. That's how you win pennants and Super Bowls.

david@davidberner.com

© The Vancouver Province 2008

Pay up

A year after the B.C. government promised a crackdown on transit cheats, about 11,500 passengers are still taking a free ride on transit every day, costing taxpayers as much as $10 million or more each year.

Yet, when I pointed this out at a debate on Wednesday evening to Gregor Robertson and Peter Ladner, Robertson actually claimed that it has not been proven that turnstiles pay for themselves. He wanted another study.

This is one of several reasons why he does not qualify for the job of Mayor at this time.

My son told me yesterday over breakfast that his step-son, David ( a father and step-son both named David Michael - nice serendipity!), doesn't want to take money for the SkyTrain because none of "my friends pay. Why should I?"

Transclunk wants to raise more tax revenue to pay for its relentlessly bad management, but they don't want to collect fares like every other system in the world.

We are the only public conveyance known to humankind that operates on the so-called honor system, and it's only costing us millions a year.

Add to that how Tranlink has aided and abetted the spread of addictions and crime.

"How is that?" you ask.

Because all the scofflaws and low lifes love the FOR FREE SkyTrain. They have now spread their contagion to Broadway and Commercial, Metrotown, Surrey and points in between.

When will Translink pay its fair share of cleaning up crime and addictions?