Gonna Go Travel Crazy!

In the mail this afternoon I received my Seniors Bus Pass.  Now I am almost as free to go where I want as any Lower Mainland seagull!

Look out world!

Voter Suppression on the East Side?

Apparently there is an attempt to suppress the advanced polling vote on the east side by using tactics familiar to everyone who follows Republican politics south of the border.

According to the City’s own website, there are no advance polling stations in the neighbourhoods of DTES, Strathcona, Grandview-Woodland and Mount Pleasant.  How can that be?

Why are so many Vancouver citizens on the eastside forced to travel by bus or walk long distances simply to exercise their constitutional franchise when easy access is available on the west side, downtown and in south Vancouver? Are there no suitable buildings available on our side of the City, or is there another more invidious reason?

There are tens of thousands of eligible voters being slapped in the face by this omission.  They have four weeks to fix this.  I bet they don’t.

Lower The Speed Limit Now

Cycling activists claim that bike lanes improve safety for cyclists.  That is probably true,  I am not opposed to bike lanes, segregated or otherwise, so long as they are created where local residents approve.  However, they are expensive — especially the segregated lanes — take time to put in place, and do nothing to protect the majority of us who are pedestrians.

But there is, I believe, something we can do overnight for zero cost and which will significantly improve safety for cyclists, pedestrians and car drivers right across Vancouver. That something is to immediately reduce the legal speed limit everywhere in Vancouver to 30 km/hr. Speed is recognised as a major cause of motor vehicle accidents and a reduction in speed will increase safety for everyone.

This proposal can be implemented immediately in most cases and has no cost to taxpayers (other than a minimal cost to replace signage).  I guess that “arterials” may come under Provincial highway rules and will therefore require some lobbying effort. But safety on most streets in the City can be improved without delay.

Let’s do it!