Hi Friends!

I have a new webpoll on my site regarding Mayor Larry Campbell being appointed a Senator. Please vote. Here is the link http://www.downtowneastside.blogspot.com

Cheers

Jamie Lee

Underbelly News
Downtown Eastside

SENATOR APPOINTMENT UNSENATOR-LIKE

I was shocked to hear of the news that our potty mouthed exhausted old party boy of a Mayor has been appointed to the senate.

Senator Campbell as he shall henceforth be known, hasn't displayed the skills one would think a Senator should posses. Instead of building bridges, Mr Campbell, burns them. Just ask any of his former allies sitting on Council. For that matter ask his former appointment to the police board, Ms Kelly MacDonald, who he brow-beated to death when she didn't go along with his treasonous ways.

While Mayor Campbell will crow about his popularity, and what a terrific job he did in his short-lived role as Vancouver Mayor, his ability to work well with others and his record of public office doesn't back up his wayward claim.

Remember, this is the man who left a whopping debt in his wake after his departure from COPE, the party which financially backed him, supported him and ultimately bore the brunt of his whopper-size ego.

So what happens when Mayor Campbell takes his seat as the Liberal Senator from BC. Since Senators are
appointed for life or until they reach the mandatory retirement age of 75, expect Mr Campbell when he doesn't get his way, to pack his bags and cross the floor to sit as a Independent Senator. If federal Liberals don't believe this will happen, just watch and see. His track record confirms this. Although it should be comical when Senator Campbell deadpans that the Liberals are not centrist enough for his liking.

So while Prime Minister Martin believes he has added another Liberal Senator and while there is no doubt Mr Campbell will set the Senate chamber on fire. Unfortunately, the flames will come as a result of his alcohol induced outbursts. And as we know from his reign of terror, anyone who gets in his way better watch out!

Larry Campbell's appointment is most unsenator-like and Prime Minister Martin should be ashamed for displaying this careless disregard for the citizens of Canada.

Jamie Lee Hamilton
tricia_foxx@yahoo.com

"I believe you change the world One man at a time"

Visit http://www.changethecode.net
and my blog http://www.downtowneastside.blogspot.com

I think Larry is great. Good to see the Libs supporting a pro-pot-head in the midst of this Emery madness.

So failed mayor, Larry Campbell, is now a Liberal Senator, will wonders ever cease. Of course it is a Liberal political payoff for his undaunted support for the RAV project.

The current RAV project is nothing more than a Liberal 'pork barrel' project that costs over $$$$1 billion more than it should. All perfectly leagal, the way over engineered RAV is designed to give financial support to Liberal favourites, SNC Lavalin, who previously went bankrupt trying to build SkyTrain in Bangkok and Bombardier Inc. who bought the proprietary, yet unsellable, poorly designed SkyTrain light metro system at a firesale price from Lavalin. As a bonus, the Liberal creme de la creme who live on Vancouver's West side will not have to contend with a tram running down the Arbutus Coridor! Running just as efficient LRT down Arbutus would cost about $$1.2 billion less.

So Larry a.k.a. Judas, enjoy your Senate splendor, while counting your 30 pieces of silver. When RAV fails, as it will, Larry will be laughing all the time in the Red Chamber, just another fat liberal hog at the trough!

Hey D. Johnston! I can see the black helicopters hovering over the skytrain line as we speak. Go back to watching the X-Files you crank.

I can't figure this guy out. Most would say he fought very hard against the BC Liberals in the Vancouver area...although Martin welcomed Ujjal Dosanjh into the fold as well fresh off of going after the BC Libs.

Funny, a English transit expert, who worked with one of the bidders for RAV, thought the whole process was a joke, including many of the main players. In one E mail he stated "Understand the X-Files were filmed in your part of the world, maybe that explains it."

RAV was designed for SkyTrain from the beginning and the whole process has been mere window dressing.

Sorry a crank, I'm not.

Well D. Johnston, if one English transit expert (unnamed) believed that, it must be true. Or maybe it was because since the rest of Greater Vancouver's rapid transit system is an elevated Skytrain system, it made sense to stick with a technology that we are familiar with and have the infrastruture here to support.

Or we could run ground level trains through already congested neighbourhoods and drive everyone still in a car bonkers.

Unlike ground level light rail, Skytrain actually influences development patterns long term. This is why its always been favoured in the GVRD, as an important part of their Livable Region Strategy. The idea that Larry Campbell supported it to get into the Senate is silly. I am quite confident that Larry had every intention of running for Mayor again until the antics of the far left lunatics in COPE finally drove him out.

Its probably also the reason why he decided that a sane, centrist party like the federal Liberals was a good plcae to be, to avoid the ideological maniacs on both sides of the political spectrum.

I just have to laugh, doesn't matter where you live in the world, the right wing types love these expensive elevated or underground light metro systems.

On-street or at grade LRT has commercial speeds equal to much more expensive grade seperated,light metro systems. This is why SkyTrain type systems have been rejected by planners - unless there is sufficeint ridership, in excess of 300,000 a day, that would justify such construction.

Who builds with SkyTrain?

No one - Why?

Too expensive to build and operate, doesn't draw sufficeint ridership.

SkyTrain hasn't influenced anything, except for tax increases, rather politicians have rezoned redundant commercial property around the SkyTrain lines to accomodate new housing. Guess what, the people who bought the new housing do not take SkyTrain. That is why SkyTrain's ridership is dismal and is subsidised to over $200 million annually. You don't see the right-wing types light their hair on fire with that. Every two years, SkyTrain's subsidy equals a FastFerrry fiasco!

LRT operating on-street, on a reserved rights-of-ways, with priority signalling doesn't adversley effect traffic. It's just TransLink's myth spinning.

I have been unimpressed with Larry Campbell as mayor and I am annoyed that he has been appointed to the Senate, bu the RAV line is one of the things I would praise him for.

When will people quit griping about the RAV line?

Yes it is not perfect, but then few things are. The city and government should have bit the bullet and elevated the line.

The elevated nature of Skytrain is part of what makes it such a great system. The other aspects are that it is quiet, clean and fast. All underground LRTs tend to be dingy dirty and feel unsafe, all on grade LRTs are slower and cause traffic problems.

Having lived right next the Skytrain, I can tell you it is quieter than a truck on the street below. It is also much quieter than almost any other LRT I have seen.

When will people look at the population issues on the line.

The Arbutus corridor has no destinations along the route need transit. It has some density in some areas, but not that big. It also would not connect with the other lines other than downtown. The only advantage it had was that the land was there to purchased from CP to build the line on.

The Cambie corridor has major commuter desitinations in Langara, Oakridge and the VGH/Cityhall area. It will also connect with the existing Skytrain outside of the downtown core.

Vancouver needs to get more people out of cars. RAV is needed, the infrastruture will be there for generations to come and will serve the city well.

What a great conversation!

Failed Mayor? - uh...not quite...what the uber right members of the NPA and the wacko left members of COPE fail to understand is how damn popular he is/was as mayor. A second term was his for the taking. I know what you are thinking...screw the majority...dictatorships rock!

I am a big fat huge orange diaper NDPer and I think he was the greatest thing since sliced bread and roses and silent black helicopters, which do exist...I hear Jack FM is using one!

For those of you wishing to dis' me I perfer, sellout, right wing NDPer, Campbellite, Mr. Wrong, and don't forget BIG labour hack (mind you I am still only a svelt 180lbs!)

I am happy for Larry that he has been appointed to the Senate, where he will have time to help write future episodes of Da Vinci's Inquest. I am disappointed that he will be sitting as a Liberal, rather that joining Saskatchewan's Lillian Dyck as a New Democrat Senator.

Generally speaking I think that Larry was a good Mayor, but he kind of tainted it for me by joining ex-Saab lessee Derek Corrigan in a silly bugger denunciation of Gateway, twinning Port Mann, and expanding the Trans Canada. But I guess even Mayors are entitled to at least one moment of sheer stupidity. As for RAV, probably the line is needed, but why haven't we been told what speed it will run at? Is that because, like our non-rapid Skytrain "rapid" transit, it will run at 80 kmh, or 50 mph, max?

So much misinformation about light rail, TransLink and RAVCo. have done their work well. SkyTrain is actually noisier than LRT but then who cares.

RAV will not reduce auto congestion, but increase it. It is the science of public transit that is being ignored and we will pay the price - higher taxes to subsidise an vast metro mistake.

All these people, people going to Langara, VGH, etc., why are they not using the bus now? The peak hour service of the Cambie St. bus is a mere 800 persons per hour per direction, a far cry from the the almost 15,000 pphpd neded to sustain a subway!

RAV's legacy will be a highly subsidsed metro, a squalid bus system and more highways built to cope with transportation demands as potential customers will avoid the public transport system.

I strongly urge anyone who has concerns about public transit to read Professor Carmen Hass-Klau (Prof. of Urban Transport University of Wuppertal) four volumes, Bus or Light Rail Making the right choice; Future of Yrban Transport; Bus or LRT Vol.2; Ecconomic Impact of light rail.

Only when one understands the issues will one be able to comment accurately.

Hey Richard, well said, though I can't lay claim to diaper NDP'er I can claim to have chosen the route. Larry Campbell is the the kind of guy I like, Jim Green has matured toward that end as well.

Larry you go in the Senate. Until they eliminate the darn thing I prefer we have folks like Larry occupying the red chamber.

The first post here is from Jamie Lee, a down and out right-wing 12 steppin poverty apologist, hates Tim Stevenson, most gay men, Larry Campbell but loves partyboi Lorne Mayencourt, safe streets act and anything to do with Sam Sullivan.
Her poll may be interesting folks.

Rick, ... I think you have Jamie Lee down pretty good. That she is an unabashed apologist for Lorne Meinkampf has become painfully obvious.

Larry Campbell is a pig now, offically.

A note to Bud Campbell:

Comercial speed of a transit line is based on the quality of rights-of-ways, and the number of station/stops per route km.

LRT, operating on a reserved R-O-W (The Arbutus corridor is a perfect example of a reserved R-O-W)can achieve the commercial speed of grade seperated transit systems, the defining factor is the number of statons/stops per route. The more stations/stops, the slower the commercial speed. Yet, the more stations/stops, the more ridership attracted.

Transit science, same around the world

A note to D Johnston

I don't think you get what most people are saying in these comments. People are saying the RAV line is hella popular. People are saying Larry Campbell is hella popular (except some jaded COPE types). People are saying they like both. All the geek talk in the world about rights of way and smug elitist comments telling people to go read a book isn't going to change that - this is politics baby and perception is reality.

Whether Larry Campbell was a good mayor or not, I no longer take him seriously. He may have worked hard and earned his money in his short term as mayor, but now he's in the trough up to the armpits, and we as taxpayers will be paying him $119,100 (plus expenses) every year until he's 75 years old. And for what? A few plane trips to Ottawa and some occasional committee work?

The Canadian Senate is one of the biggest continuing embarrassments in our immature democracy. Larry Campbell may have been some people's champion once; but now, his nest nicely feathered, he's just another insider, for whom having the right connections is all that really matters.

Hey Dave B., sorry to correct you - only TransLink polling shows that RAV is popular. independant polls show about 70% against RAV.

This is how TransLink conducts a poll: Hello, do you use public transit - no? Thank you click!

Or this gem from the Millennium Line days: "SkyTrain is better than LRT because it carries more people and is faster than a car." On the basis of this question, the NDP bullied the Millennium SkyTrain Line onto TransLink.

If the truth about RAV was known, not the garbage spread by the Sun and Asper press, Brand-X (CKNW), the public would reject RAV out of hand.

I think good old boy 'Larry' was beginning to smell the coffee on the upcoming RAV debacle and possibly one of the reasons he opted to 'bail' from civic politics to the Liberal golden trough of the Senate.

Would D.Johnston be the same D.Malcolm Johnston that has been against RAV since day one and believes Arbutus LRT being the only option?

Hey D. Johnston,

If "only TransLink polling shows that RAV is popular. independant polls show about 70% against RAV", prove it. Post a link.

But all the geek talk in the world doesn't change the fact that Larry Campbell is the most popular politician in BC, even though you have been against the RAV line and believe the Arbutus LRT is the only option since day one.

Dave Brown:

To be blunt, you are a demented dreamer.

There were two reports, published not in the Asper press or CORUS radio, in the early spring that RAV was not popular, but no, you and your ilk pervert the truth, as always. Larry Campbell was a media maven, who rode the coattails of the NPA implossion. COPE would have won big without him.

Shills like you are beneath contempt, as you know you can lie with impunity and not be corrected. The public are tired of your ilk and the politicians you represent. One day, they will have their revenge.

RAV will fail and the fallout will be nasty!

D. Johnston, you are so negative it is a wonder that you haven't started writing those long flowing poems that don't rhyme... what are those called again? Oh right, suicide notes.

And you still haven't posted links to your "polls" proving that the RAV line is unpopular.

Also, it is interesting to note that the farther out to lunch one generally is, one is more likely to criticize the media as having bias against one's position.

The polls in question are about 1 year old and were part of a much larger provincial poll done for a private interest and not released to the public. The question on RAV was leaked to the media, probably by the people who commissioned the poll in the first place. As for links, alas I don't have but somewhere in my files is the news release.

The question asked was a general question supporting RAV or not.

The only person who seems to be out to lunch is you. Sorry about your love affair with RAV, but it defies modern public transport philosophy. Don't worry though, the Sun and CORUS media will never print the truth.

To all the RAV lovers out there, what do you say to those businesses and residents for that fact that RAVCO decided to go with an archaic most expensive "cut and cover" tunnelling routine? I gather you would use the Bushism... "collateral damage"? Or "there has to be victims in order for there to be progress"?

We had a referendum on the Olympic Bid in Vancouver, why wasn't this black hole of money put to a referendum? As a property tax owner, I should at least have some say in the regional taxation policy shouldn't I? But yet, instead, we're told that our elected civic politicians can somehow turn off their municipal bias' and somehow think for the greater good of the region??

Sorry, but when it comes to addressing traffic and congestion concerns, I believe (as I work in it daily as part of my job) that the northeastern corridor should have taken precidence in terms of major funding, then Mr. Roger's trolley out to the airport under a 3P. Something that we're all going to be paying for inperpetuaty.

Larry Campbell, charasamtic politician, who didn't like politics and at times didn't play the game too smartly. That being said, he came along at the right time for this City, and he should be lauded for doing so. Its too bad that a few of the nutty nuts on the COPE classic side, took their victory as being solely because of themselves and not because of the chrasmatic Larry. I hope Jim Green wins the mayor's seat. But thanks to some antics and sideshow theatrics from some others, you can look forward to a reduced majority if not a loss for COPE in november.