Climate Change Lip Service

[WalterWhite]

https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#210933

Yes Colin - this is nothing more than lip service - from you, under the guise of climate change. Your constituents have made it loud and clear (it's actually been an issue long before your tenure even began) - yet you refuse to heed the wishes of those same constituents (read: voters) that put your backside in office. The infrastructure regarding transportation around Kelowna is a joke plain and simple. Did it ever occur to you and the Kool-Aid drinking staff at you disposal, that vehicles able to get from point A to B in the least amount of time results in efficient vehicle use actually reducing the amount of emissions? What's better for the environment - a vehicle that takes 15 minutes traveling at a reasonably constant speed relative to the speed limit, or a vehicle taking 4-5 times longer to reach the same destination because of constant stoppages and delays resulting in extended time idling? Multiply it by the tens of thousands of vehicles on Kelowna streets every day.

Vehicles are not simply going to disappear due to the increasing lack of infrastructure. Deal with it, rather than blaming your constituents for not jumping on a pie-in-the-sky utopia of a car-less green future because it's simply not feasible. Increase infrastructure, reduce vehicle travel times - including public transit.

[qwaylude]

Start by eliminating all city of Kelowna employee parking. You can all take the bus to work.

[lightspeed]

Yes a sprawling rural community where people live out of town. Guess plenty of rural folks are going to buy a $200 bicycle and become communists (not).

The anti car envirofascists drive me nuts. Beardy minimum wage goofs cycling around town in sandals planning the future of society in a car free, endless free granola paradise.

Our transportation system is a joke and a long neglected mess. A recently built bridge isn't even adequate to cater for traffic volumes just a few years after it's built. There are hundreds of places around town where turn lanes could easily be added but instead we sit at red lights, held up by cars going straight ahead as we idle away our time. At least it gives us a few more seconds to seethe at the various levels of incompetence. Downtown has removed parking for cars then asks why people aren't visiting downtown. Uh - parking and the various, nefarious grotbags of street crime that we see there every day.

Kelowna city planning approves yet more hideous Upper Mission subdivisions and expansions but they all clog up one route. Approves further development up in the hills where - guess what - multiple daily journeys then have to be accommodated. Parents all over town add to the congestion running Little Johnny around town all day and night and they themselves contribute by other unnecessary journeys.

Harvey Ave in itself is an excercise in how not to design a traffic system.

So much ineptitude. We're at least 15 years behind where our transportation system should be. It's only a few years since the provinces brightest brains realized they oughta improve the most dangerous stretch of road in BC (Westside Rd) but what about the major intersections on Harvey that are regular death traps.

Basran is just another hired goon. An idiot in freshly laundered pink shirts.

[BoBillyBob]

What happens when Basran's job as mayor is up and he has to find another job -- If it's not right downtown, is he going to ride the bus to work every day as he has been asking others to do the last year, including doctors and nurses who work odd shifts at the hospital and have to arrive for emergency surgeries in the middle of the night? When Basran did his stint as a realtor a few years ago, did he walk and ride the bus around? What does he expect all the people having to travel miles to work each day, including construction workers who need their trucks, etc to do? What about all the developers he caters to. Do they ride the bus and walk to their development sites every day? Because he and his wife have moved close to his work at city hall, does that mean over $100,000 other residents in Kelowna should pick up and cram themselves in to the downtown core to live or somehow find affordable housing within a mile of their work? Why is Basran approving all of the development in the upper mission if he is against people living and commuting by vehicle that far to work each day? He contradicts himself. The bottom line is this city has no road/highway infrastructure, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. The roads were built to sustain 20,000 people back in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Nothing has been done to them since. Basran has no problem okaying all of these large new developments, but has he forgotten how all of this development is affecting our environment and climate change?

[MAPearce]

What happens when Basran's job as mayor is up and he has to find another job

He'll just got back to running a fruit stand , with a HUGE house built on ALR land , and find a loop hole to make it right ..

[spooker]

The bridge and the 6-laning of Harvey out to Hwy 33 are perfect examples of how building more will only bring more traffic ... creating more infrastructure to carry cars does nothing to solve the problem of how the heck do we actually move more people ...

Yes, I have a beard (goatee) ... I wear sandals (in the warmer seasons) ... and I ride a bike (year round) ...

Would love to see some "park'n'ride" lots built that would help unclog the bridge and lower the parking issues that everyone complains about ... would love to see transit made more reliable and useful ... would love to see alternatives made safer and easier for people to contemplate ...

If not for the climate I'd love to see the mental health on the roads be addressed ... thankfully 95% of the people on the roads are sane ... it's that 5% harboring all the anger, angst, and impatience that gives traffic a bad name ...

[lensbaby]

While I must precede this by saying that I am very concerned about climate change/global warming, I have to say that every politician in recent memory who has suddenly developed concern for the planet has, within a few weeks, found a way to add a carbon tax or environmental tax to goods or services that their tax payers use. Can we expect some ridiculous city tax added to our utilities soon? I do agree with the post earlier that suggested that city hall staff take the bus - it would be an example to us all :)

[WalterWhite]

If not for the climate I'd love to see the mental health on the roads be addressed ... thankfully 95% of the people on the roads are sane ... it's that 5% harboring all the anger, angst, and impatience that gives traffic a bad name ...

Snipped your comment for brevity only, as I agree with what you said, although the infrastructure improvements haven't actually brought any more traffic - just giving it some breathing room. The portion above however I strongly believe is due to the piss-poor planning of local infrastructure that results in delays, far too many stop lights, lack of right and left turn lanes all directly contributing to the frustration levels of daily drivers - and enough to send the aforementioned 5% completely off the deep end.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not anti-Birkenstock anti-granola anti-tree-hugger. There's nothing wrong with responsible consideration for our environment. I'm all for pushing public transportation as an alternative to the many one car daily commuters.

What I do take issue with, is our illustrious Mayor Sugarplum blaming the very people that elected him for the traffic woes and consequently global climate change on the fact we can't see the connection between fires floods and car exhaust. This paisley-shirted imbecile needs a serious reality check in the form of getting minimal votes if he has the cajones to make an attempt at retaining his coveted title. We're currently suffering from record cold temps and early snow at the start of this winter Basran, so based on your thinking it's safe to say global warming and climate change are officially over. What a complete twit.

[WalterWhite]

What happens when Basran's job as mayor is up and he has to find another job

He'll just got back to running a fruit stand , with a HUGE house built on ALR land , and find a loop hole to make it right ..

Lol - find a loop hole?? - hell, he had a direct hand in creating one.

[StraitTalk]

If there's anywhere that the people Colin is talking about will show up, it's castanet - and don't I know it.. posts like this are why I come here in the first place!

You can call it lip service if you disagree but the man is taking a pretty serious risk by taking this stance. That's called leadership by the way. It's not his fault the traffic problem is where it is and no single mayor is going to fix it.

Did it ever occur to you and the Kool-Aid drinking staff at you disposal, that vehicles able to get from point A to B in the least amount of time results in efficient vehicle use actually reducing the amount of emissions?

Really solid, enlightening stuff there. Better get that bombshell down to the boys in planning right away.

What's better for the environment - a vehicle that takes 15 minutes travelling at a reasonably constant speed relative to the speed limit, or a vehicle taking 4-5 times longer to reach the same destination because of constant stoppages and delays resulting in extended time idling? Multiply it by the tens of thousands of vehicles on Kelowna streets every day.

I really like how you tee'd that up for yourself. What Colin said, almost literally, was that he is amazed at the amount of people that will complain about traffic with no regard for the effect additional traffic has, and the benefits of building less roads and investing in alternatives. He's calling people out for their double standards and ignorance on the issue of climate change.

Your post made me physically ill. It seems you are so hell-bent on hating this man that you came here to post quite possibly some of the weakest, uneducated drivel I've read in ages.

The anti car envirofascists drive me nuts. Beardy minimum wage goofs cycling around town in sandals planning the future of society in a car free, endless free granola paradise.

Nope I lied, this guy takes it.

[lesliepaul]

11 months to go and here's hoping this complete moron of a mayor is gone. Hey "Bobble-Head" Basran.............when are you going to stand in front of the "Sails" this time to let all of Kelowna know your plans to run for your best pay cheque ever..........uhhhhh..........I mean mayor again.

right

[JagXKR]

I've seen this guy down here at the SOEC watching Weezer last spring. Wonder if he rode his bike down to watch the concert? Don't know much about Kelowna politics but he seems like a clown. Not the fun type but the silly annoying go away type.

[StraitTalk]

Yeah people who own bikes are awful.

[voice of reason]

finish the rail trail so the jackasses on bikes can actually ride to work without getting ran over

[Anonymous123]

11 months to go and here's hoping this complete moron of a mayor is gone. Hey "Bobble-Head" Basran.............when are you going to stand in front of the "Sails" this time to let all of Kelowna know your plans to run for your best pay cheque ever..........uhhhhh..........I mean mayor again.

Best paycheque? The Mayor gets about $91,500.00 per year. City manager gets over $250,000.00.