VOTE NO to Tran$Link tax

[1nitestan]

For all the 'Yes' research I posted and the 'no' side I studied, I voted NO.

Because the question isn't about whether we needed transportation infrastructure. We do, and no one is disputing that. The question is wrong because it asks if you favor a tax increase to fund it. The master plan has been in place for quite some time and now they are just asking for money. Whether they get it from the increase or via other means is the question. I'm sure that there's a plan B somewhere. Construction companies have most likely already bid/won the jobs that are next on the list. Voting NO isn't gonna halt all the projects, the money will come from somewhere. I just couldn't bring myself to give more money to people who've had such a bad track record of handling it. It became do different than evaluating a loan to someone.

 

[badbadboy]

And if you were able to have far fewer cars on the road because of the quality of the public transit system, you could fit in even more appointments. Seems like it would be a win-win situation there, which certainly isn't going to happen if the transit infrastructure isn't improved. Maybe you will be looking at a maximum of three appointments a day driving as well one the roads get even more clogged with no tax and no other sources of revenue to fund the needed improvements. Seems short-sighted on the part of business owners and those needing to drive as part of their employment or business NOT to want the improvements enable through the tax, which would ultimately improve the situation for everyone.

Let's not minimize the billions of $ already funnelled to Translink via all the gas taxes, GVRD taxes etc that is squandered by the board. You seem to think that without this extra tax on top of all the other taxes is a make or break scenario and you are promoting the sky will fall without this unnecessary tax. You talk about Big Oil a lot but this scare tactic from the socialists is utter bullshit and you know it.

You actually believe people will ditch their cars to jump on transit and my type of work will be easier with less cars on the road. Talk about delusional.

Bottom line: The Board must learn to live within their means, run an efficient system, have only one CEO, tap into a knowledge base to get Compass operational and stop squandering our money then requesting more money because they don't have a clue in the first place.

Do you ever read the Facebook comments to the Yes Sides barrage of propaganda? It's looking pretty damn gloomy for the Yes side because 99% of responses are telling the Mayor's council to go to hell.

It might be a nice change to have them listen to the public responses and actually make real changes because nobody has faith that these clowns know what they are doing.

Voting Yes is only throwing more good money after bad.

 

[booblover]

too bad that 99% of the no side probably won't get off their lazy ass and vote so the yes side has a chance...

 

[fnelsonn]

Vote NO until the current Translink boondoggle is scrapped and replaced with something accountable. If Jimmy Pattison wants to be involved, then hire him to head up a transition board to make some sensible and cost-effective decisions. He is a decision-maker not an auditor. The list of mistakes made by the current board is so laughable. No wonder they received a Lifetime Award for Waste from the Canadian Taxpayers Association. It is time to end their life not throw more money into their begging bowls. Just look at all the mistakes with the Port Mann bridge... over budget, over time, stupid exits now on both sides to Surrey and Coquitlam, hopeless mess of asphalt with cracks and ridges that are soon to need repair, and crazy road markings and signage designed by an elementary school kid. THESE PEOPLE HAVE TO GO. Two CEOs?? WTF people. Vote NO and put them and us out of our misery.

 

[canuck33660]

For those of us who support the NO side we really need to get the vote out.

Remind all your friends and family to go out and vote NO.

Remember strangers things have happened in BC politics ......... who would have predicted the NDP would lose the last election.

The YES side keeps on shooting itself -

- Gregor decides to scare us into voting YES by suggest that we will not receive any of the new federal infrastructure dollars pledged in the current budget if we vote NO. However James Moore clearly denied this.

B.C.’s biggest cities will get a fair share of new federal infrastructure dollars, even if Metro Vancouver residents vote No in the transit tax plebiscite, Industry Minister James Moore said Wednesday.
“There’s no shortage of projects. The money will find its way to British Columbia.
JAMES MOORE FEDERAL INDUSTRY MINISTER AND B.C. MP

But Moore’s pledge, which came after Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson warned a No vote would jeopardize the region’s ability to tap the new $1 billion-a-year Public Transit Fund, relies heavily on Metro mayors having a Plan B to raise money if the tax is defeated.
“Should the No side win in the campaign, I suspect there will be alternative approaches that will be developed by the mayors’ council or by the province or by others,” said Moore, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s senior minister on the West Coast. “We as British Columbians will absolutely get our fair share regardless of the transit referendum outcome. Period.”

- Telemarketers for the YES side harassing people to vote YES even when they are on the "Do Not Call List". Apparently the YES side has an exclusion from being part of those that are covered by the "Do Not Call List". I'm sure continued harassment will help their cause.

GET OUT AND VOTE NO. If you think they are doing a good job of wasting our funds now ... if they win you will really see just how much more funds they can waste.

 

[1nitestan]

^ Most people simply don't understand how the world actually works. Do they really think a gov't or progress is gonna come to a grinding halt if democracy votes one way or another? The plan for region is years in the making. People are essentially playing SimCity and projecting for 2025 and beyond. Car companies don't just design new models in 12 months. Given the standard 4 year product cycle, your 2019 minivan is on the drawing boards right now.

 

[Lo-ki]

Great letter to the editor today in the Province...

Unicorns and pixie dust?

Well it came, the final straw. This week, on the radio, the Yes side in the transit-tax vote outright lied. To quote the ad, “voting Yes will reduce the average commute by 30 minutes.”

Well my wife and I commute from South Surrey. I drive to Richmond, about 35 minutes, and she takes transit to downtown Vancouver, about an hour. I believe these to be average commutes.

If we vote Yes, which we didn’t, I guess my wife would be transported by flying buses and a SkyTrain travelling at three times its speed of today. My truck and I, of course, would be magically transported by unicorns and fairies using pixie dust.

 

[badbadboy]

The Mayors’ Council today released the details of their transit and transportation referendum campaign budget.
The final campaign budget for the Mayors’ Council education and information campaign to promote a “yes” vote was $5,814,851.



Chump change?

 

[Lo-ki]

Our chump change regardless how we look at it.

 

[escapefromstress]

Our chump change regardless how we look at it.

Imagine the Skytrain upgrades that could have been purchased with that money.

 

[BS Detector]

VancouverMan !!! You're back !!! Nice to see you on here again.

 

[escapefromstress]

Metro Vancouver residents reject tax to fund transportation projects

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/11182909/story.html

 

[hornygandalf]

That is too bad. Getting around Metro Vancouver is going to get worse and more difficult, no matter whether you are driving or on transit.
But, will they come up with a solution or is this just going to be downward spiral?

 

[uncleg]

That is too bad. Getting around Metro Vancouver is going to get worse and more difficult, no matter whether you are driving or on transit.
But, will they come up with a solution or is this just going to be downward spiral?

.....and now they can blame the public, instead of taking responsibility for poor decisions, poor planning and Moonbeam's bike lanes.... Let's face it, before the results were known, Moore was already making excuses for why it could take up to three years to get more buses on the road....

 

[Robert Upndown]

I voted no for a number of reasons. It was a good plan, I just did not trust Translink or Mayor Moonbeam to use the money wisely. They have wasted millions. And I thought it odd to put a man who owns a number of car dealerships in charge of a plan designed to take cars off the roads. If they put together a board consisting of citizens (Voters), Intelligent Translink Reps and politicians interested in the project and not their legacy, that will properly oversee the project, then I might change my mind. But to keep the current hierarchy in place and in charge of the money, NO THANK YOU.
Just my two cents.

 

[Lo-ki]

All that wasted money could have been used for better things.

WTG...NO VOTERS :clap2::clap2::clap2:

 

[Oldfart]

If they wanted a resounding "Yes" vote, they should have asked the question:
"Should TransLink management be shot and then pissed on?"

 

[76duster]

If they wanted a resounding "Yes" vote, they should have asked the question:
"Should TransLink management be shot and then pissed on?"

Pissed on first, so they can get it in their eyes and feel the pain, then shot.

 

[tadolder]

The plan they layed out is still going forward. The vote was to pay for it by the sales tax increase, they will just increase another tax. Jimmy Pattison was going to be in charge of how the money was spent.

 

[Cock Throppled]

The plan they layed out is still going forward. The vote was to pay for it by the sales tax increase, they will just increase another tax. Jimmy Pattison was going to be in charge of how the money was spent.

No he wasn't. He was supposed to be in charge of auditing what was spent after the decisions were already made.

Looks like all the fear-mongering fizzled. Hopefully the scare-tactic ads of the federal Conservatives backfires on them, too.