The Vancouver Courier’s Cheryl Rossi wrote today about the West Broadway Business Association which has been sharing their views on the project every since they formed the group in 2008.
Donna Dobo, a director of the non-profit, said association members don’t want rapid transit construction to disrupt their trade. “Our main concern is that West Broadway and Kitsilano will end up looking like Cambie [Street],” she said. “And that we will lose 50 or more merchants, as they did, and bankrupt the rest of them because they’re not using the word compensation.”
Dobo plans to attend the March 25 open house at the Mount Pleasant Community Centre and to write the mayor and city council a letter in advance. She said the letter will request “creative compensation for businesses” and recommend surface rail. “Whatever they choose, to keep it at grade,” she said.
According to Rossi’s article, project sponsors TransLink and the provincial government aren’t talking compensation. Of course, no money is in place to construct the UBC Line, so these discussions are still very preliminary and the provincial transit plan calls for the line to be operational by 2020.
The March 25th open house runs from 6:00pm to 9:00pm at 1 Kingsway. To submit comments online, see “Have Your Say” at vancouver.ca.
Last modified: March 20, 2010
If they want to SkyTrain to UBC (which they eventually need to), they won’t be able to go above grade (ruin the view) or at grade (traffic chaos and pedestrian dangers) but obviously they won’t want to rip and cover like they did along Cambie. Perhaps they could actually shell out the money and tunnel from VCC-Clark to UBC (or thereabouts) and do the SkyTrain as a subway properly? It may cost more, but it’s the best for the businesses, the pedestrians, and the future of transit in Kits.