Electoral Reforms review – Opinion
It is a very exciting time in BC politics. First the HST has sparked a grassroots political movement not seen here for a generation. At the same time, with much less fanfare but just as significant, the provincial government is reviewing how we elect our local governments. The Local Government Elections Task Force is currently reviewing submissions from stakeholders and will recommend potentially sweeping changes to municipal election laws by the end of May. Changes to the way municipal elections are run in BC could have a particularly significant impact in Surrey, the second-largest city in the province, where elections
Olympics arts and culture in Surrey – Opinion
Now that the Olympics and Paralympics are over, it’s a good time to reflect on some of the positive investments that were made as a result of the Games. Most people seem to agree that the investments in public transit made throughout the month of February led to outstanding results. The substantial increase in service, both with buses and Skytrain, allowed many people south of the Fraser to comfortably ride public transit to and from different venue sites, some for the first time. Of course, without badly-needed additional funding from the provincial government for TransLink, our transit system will continue
Pending school funding crisis in Surrey – Opinion
Surrey’s school district faces the same incredibly daunting challenges faced by school districts across this province, as a lack of education funding by the provincial government threatens the most basic of programs. But because Surrey is the largest school district in the province and one of the few that is still growing (enrollment increased by nearly three per cent last year), Surrey’s students are going to feel the impacts of cuts even more intensely. Confronted with a budget shortfall of between $15 million and $20 million for the next school year, no program or service to students will be safe.
Fraser Heights Development – Opinion
Fraser Heights Development – Talk is cheap Surrey First has again used its majority on council to skirt public consultation and bulldoze through a development contrary to residents’ wishes. After a year of admitting the neighbourhood consultation process in Surrey is broken, they proved it again by voting in favour of third reading for a controversial development application near Highway 1 and 176 Street, despite intense community opposition. Three neighbourhood community groups – the Fraser Heights Community Association, the Abbey Ridge Steering Committee, and the South Port Kells Community Association – have been expressing their opposition to the plans
What Surrey must do to solve the mega-home crisis
What Surrey must do to solve the mega-home crisis. By Stephanie Ryan, Special to the Sun – November 6, 2009 – Original Article from Vancouver Sun – The recent controversy in Surrey about mega-homes is entirely the city’s own doing. Surrey is infamous for unchecked development, unregulated secondary suites and not enforcing its own zoning bylaws. Now it has to deal with the fallout. Zoning issues came to the forefront again when the Mayor Dianne Watts and council attempted to hastily bring about sweeping changes to the “RF” (single family residential) zone. The process has been rotten from the start.
Surrey council shouldn’t ignore concerns about Welcome Home recovery home.
Stephanie Ryan: Surrey council shouldn’t ignore concerns about Welcome Home recovery home By Stephanie Ryan – October 1 , 2009 Many people in Surrey are wondering what it is about the proposed Welcome Home facility that city council wants so badly that it would ignore its own planning and development department’s recommendations. The controversy will come to a head on Monday (October 5), when the proposal goes to a public hearing. Welcome Home is being billed as a therapeutic community that will aim to equip recovering drug and alcohol addicts, as well as court-ordered offenders, with the life and job
Former SET ‘gang’ is back together
Who’s on First? I see the old SET gang has re-united. Now we know who’s on First. Marvin Hunt comes home to support secret deals for George Bush, overcrowded schools, and $200 million in intentional debt – an all-out free-for-all for those with money to pull the strings. But enough about SET/First. This is why I belong to the Surrey Civic Coalition. SCC believes Surrey deserves a balanced democracy where everyone is included and all neighbourhoods are heard. We believe that Surrey’s precious green spaces, parks, and agricultural land should be protected for the future, not chopped up and developed
SCC has better ideas for increasing voter participation
Letter to the Editor: To the Editor, The Surrey Civic Coalition agrees Surrey and other local governments should consider online voting. In our view, this will increase citizens’ participation in local government, and any steps we can take toward this goal are laudable. SCC also supports referenda as another tool to increase voter engagement and, hopefully, voter turnout. We believe that all Surrey voters should have a say on the dedication of city parkland, whether we should elect city council by wards, and what our priorities should be for public transit. Prior to the 2008 election, SCC lobbied for a
TransLink continues to insist that it will axe the 351 bus route
To the Editor, It seems that TransLink continues to insist that it will axe the 351 bus route, from Crescent Beach to Vancouver, when the Canada Line finally comes to Richmond. TransLink has long said that it would get rid of this bus route in favour of a feeder bus route that allows passengers to transfer onto the Canada Line to commute into downtown Vancouver, even in the face of community opposition. This is a ridiculous decision by an organization that claims it wants to increase transit use. Adding one or two more transfers for commuters who currently ride the
SCC speaks out against privatizing the Port Mann
Surrey Leader To the Editor, The recent disaster which saw the Pattullo bridge shut down for a week has refocused attention on the urgent need for better bridge infrastructure in Surrey. But the provincial government’s announcement that taxpayers would bear one-third of the cost of a twinned Port Mann bridge doesn’t bring much comfort. P3s are clearly not the answer to financing infrastructure. We’ve seen in both the Port Mann example and with the Olympic Village fiasco in Vancouver that the public ends up bearing the risk while the private partner ends up making profit on the backs of taxpayers.