Gay Magazine Saves Pride Festival

Looks like the Pride Festival will go ahead in Ottawa. I am not a supporter of this festival but I am a supporter of how they got their funding. I think that other festivals should get the majority of their funding from private supporters like this. I am sick of the City flushing our Tax Dollars down the tubes funding festivals that can't survive on their own two feet. If there are not enough interested supporters of a festival to make it viable then what is the real benefit to society?

All you need to know about the O-Train

This is from Jan Harders website...............almost every O-Train route is slower than the BUS!!!! This project is NUTS!!!

Councill Meeting for LRT moved ahead 1 day!!!!

The council meeting that will discuss the LRT project and eventually vote in it has been changed from Wednesday to Tuesday!!.

This is from the City website

City Council will begin its July meeting on July 11 at 1 p.m, rather than on July 12 at 9:30 a.m. It is expected that this Council meeting will last several days given the number of agenda items that Council will be discussing and approving. Deliberations on the contract award for the North-South Light Rail Transit Project will be first on the City Council agenda, and so will be discussed on July 11

More on Light Rail....A Letter to Terry Kilrae

Over that past number of weeks I have become very sceptical about the proposed LRT Project that our council is about to pass. I have been the most upset about the lack of information I have been able to get from council and my councillor in particular, Jan Harder. As the time nears to finalize this deal I feel like our rights as citizens and tax payers are being trampled by an elite group of councillors and a mayor who want to forge a legacy for themselves. There are so many unanswered questions that it would make your head spin.

For the record I am a supporter of light rail and think that Ottawa really needs this type of rapid transit. That being said the problem I have is the fact that it seems we are being provided with a new transit option that is actually worse than the one we have now. I am a resident of Barrhaven and I can take an express bus in the morning from the Fallowfield Rd Park and Ride to Albert Street in 22-29 minutes on average and the same thing in the evening coming home. Now to put that into perspective, from what I have read in the papers it will take around 42 minutes to get from Barrhaven Town Centre to Downtown. How is this better?

On top of that it is well documented that Mayor Chiarelli has said on many occasions that the Barrhaven LRT will get people downtown faster than any available bus route. Am I missing something? I think we are all missing something and council and the mayor are not being totally honest with us. If the mayor's statement is to prove true then they will have to remove the express bus routes that are currently in place. From what I have heard this is exactly what they have in mind or at least they are contemplating it. I have a hard time believing that any sane person would cancel an efficient bus route that has just undergone a massive upgrade with the addition of the transit way lanes of Woodroofe Avenue.

There must be something I am missing here. Right now I can walk to the Fallowfield Park and Ride then jump on an express bus that comes very frequently. If my suspicions are correct I will first have to take a bus to Barrhaven Town Centre then take a train that leaves the station God knows when because that information is so classified that we are not allowed to know it. If this is progress then I guess I must be a moron and should just shut the hell up and listen to those who know better like Councillor Harder and Mayor Bob.

These are very serious issues related to this project and I can't seem to get an answer anywhere. Every time I hear supporters of this project talk about the new Barrhaven link it appears that we are going to have some revolution in mass transit when in reality we are going to be devolving. Who in their right mind will chose to abandon the current bus they are taking to get them downtown for a train to go to the same place that will take then considerably longer.

I would also like to know how much that Pierre and Lisa know about this project. Are you guys just as in the dark as I am on this one? Pierre and Lisa, as responsible Members of your respective Parliaments you should look into where our money is going. This is a tremendous expenditure that will have lasting implications long after this current council is gone. I hear the mayor talk about how this project is not going to cost the tax payers of Ottawa anything, the money is coming from the Federal, Provincial Governments and Gas Tax Revenue. I don't know about you but the last time I looked there was only 1 tax payer in this country and the citizens of Ottawa happen to be in that group. I want to know where my money is going and what are the benefits of this project and so should you.

The silence is deafening from council on this project and I think I deserve some answers to my very simple questions. I once heard someone say that when you ask a question and don't get an answer there are certain conclusions you can draw...either they don't know the answer, they don't like the answer or they just don't care.

Terry, I know you are working very hard on this issue and I appreciate your dedication. As so often happens in politics the average person gets dismissed and lost in the shuffle. I know I am only one person but I still think I have a right to be heard and have my views known.

More on Light Rail.........Still no Answers

I find that the question about the bus service in Barrhaven is crucial in how we move forward on light rail. I keep hearing about all of the benefits of light rail and I am inclined to agree that the benefits are substantial and that it is time that the city moved forward with transit improvements. I have become quite sceptical over the past number of months however with the way this projects seems to be progressing.

The secrecy involved with the bidding process and the details of the routes and travel times not being readily available to the public is very troubling. I get the impression that some members of council are so blinded by their eagerness to get this project done that they seem to forget that they are spending our tax dollars and that they are responsible to the citizens of Ottawa. I hope that this is not the case but the closer it gets to the final vote on this the more I am inclined to believe that this is exactly what is happening.

The time issue for me is paramount, if I can travel on an express bus from the Fallowfield Park and Ride to down town in less that 30 minutes then what is the incentive for me or any other person to take the LRT if it is going to take 42 minutes. As for the 42 minute time frame I am using was a direct quote that was published in last week in one of the Barrhaven papers from the gentleman that was giving the tour of the LRT route by bus either last week of the week before. The bus was stopped in traffic and he said this will never happen if you are the LRT and that the trip to down town would take 41 or 42 minutes. I wish I had a link to those comments but unfortunately it is not available but I do have the hard copy.

Any way if this is true then it defeats the whole purpose of the rapid transit plan and surely raises doubts as to the numbers being tossed around about the increased rider ship. Lets face it people are not going to give up one form of public transit for another if the trip is going to take longer and be less flexible when it comes to the number of trains compared to the frequency of the bus.

There are so many questions surrounding this light rail project that just boggle the mind and really make me think the decisions are being made based on ideology instead of sound planning and fiscal responsibility. I guess I am not all that surprised if that is the case because respecting tax dollars and having some fiscal restraint are two things that this particular council has never been renowned for.

Another thing I would like to know id why exactly did we choose these particular trains that are 100% electric and costs way more than a Diesel Electric. Are the figures that I have seen that the trains we are using cost 4 times that of a diesel train? I have seen published stories that say a diesel electric train would cost 5 million apposed to the 20 million for this particular electric one.

What bothers me is why are all of these questions out there and why don't we have the information available to us? I know that I am just one person and what I think probably doesn't even register with council but I think I have a right to know these things. After all it is I and every other resident of Ottawa that will be paying for this thing for the rest of our lives. It should just be common courtesy for councillors to be forthcoming with all of the information so that we can make an educated decision as to whether we support this expenditure. Frankly the way it stands now the silence from council and my councillor in particular is deafening. Usually when someone doesn't answer questions when posed to them there are only a few explanations.....either they don't know the answer; they don't like the answer or they don't care. I hope I am wrong but it is starting to look that way.

Questions to Council about the LRT Project

Hi Jan and members of the Transportation Committee,

I have a question for you with regards to the plans for OC Transpo after the new North-South LRT is in place. I have heard many conflicting stories about what benefit this is going to provide to transit users and would appreciate if you could clarify something for me. All of the estimates I have seen say that it will take 42 minutes to get downtown from Barrhaven on the new LRT. Is this correct? If it is then I have another question as it relates to the bus. Currently my wife travels downtown everyday on the express bus from the Park and Ride on Fallowfield Road and it takes her between 22 and 29 minutes. What are the cities plans for the bus routes? I have heard the Mayor say on several occasions that the LRT will get people down town faster than any available bus route from Barrhaven. Obviously there is something conflicting here. In order for the mayors statement to be true then those busses that my wife rides downtown would have to no longer be there or changed in some way.

I know this is a pretty sticky issue right now and I have an open mind as it relates to Light Rail but if the busses are faster and more frequent then I don't see the benefit. I know you are a big supporter of this project and I respect your position as I am sure you have many more details available to you than I have but these nagging concerns won't go away.

I have always been a big supporter of yours and I will continue to be but this issue is becoming contentious between me and others. If I am going to be able to defend this project and you as my councillor I am going to need some clarification on these questions.

I have copied the other members of the Transportation Committee because my wife has been trying to get answers for these questions for weeks now and has not gotten one response. I expect answers for these questions as they are very basic and should be very simple to answer. I don't want this issue to be delayed until after the election because you people have been working on this now for several years and are in the best position to make an informed vote on it. However I don't agree with all the fear mongering that has been going on with regards to how much more the project will cost if we delay it. We need to go ahead with this project for the right reasons and we need to be confident that it is the right project as it is planed right now. I would rather pay more to have the best project instead of pushing something through because it is a nice legacy for some Councillors and the Mayor. Please tell me that this is not the case and we are doing the right project for the right reasons at the right time.

I have not got any answers yet!!!!!!