Bridge the Gap
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The Latest News
January 5, 2010
Is the next step now a "manadatory" referendum? Not necessarily so.
See Frank Stanford's report on CFAX Radio News
November 19, 2009
The City of Victoria Council has voted to proceed with an alternative approval process for replacing the blue bridge.
See the full report on CFAX Radio News
November 4, 2009
One expert says restoration of the Johnson Street bridge as opposed to replacement is the way to go.
See a report from Frank Nelson, a Seattle based architect, on CFAX Radio News
August 31, 2009
Frank Stanford of CFAX radio said today that the City of Victoria really should be scheduling a referendum on its plans to borrow 63 million dollars for replacement of the Johnson Street Bridge.
See more of what he has to say on CFAX Radio News
August 28, 2009
According to the CHEK News web site referencing a Times Colonist article, Victoria should take a second look at refurbishing rather than replacing the Johnson Street Bridge if it doesn’t get senior government funding, says Coun. Geoff Young. “The pressure of time certainly has got us moving forward on this project and I think if we do get that funding assistance there will be great advantages to moving forward with it,” Young told council as it gave three readings to a bylaw seeking authority to borrow the $63-million. Young voted for the bylaw, which still needs provincial approval through the Inspector of Municipalities, but said all bets are off if Victoria isn’t successful in its grant application.
Follow the full report at CHEK TV News
August 25, 2009
The johnsonstreetbridge.org Campaign Directors write that on very short notice, nearly 50 Victoria and CRD residents concerned about the planned replacement of the Johnson Street Bridge attended the public meeting organized by the johnsonstreetbridge.org Awareness Campaign. The Tuesday, August 25th meeting was organized by Campaign Directors Ross Crockford, Yule Heibel and Mat Wright to inform and engage public participation and attendance during the Thursday City of Victoria Council meeting, which will introduce a bylaw to borrow the expected $63 million costs for replacing the Blue Bridge.
Ross Crockford provided a comprehensive presentation on the events leading up to council’s April decision to replace, rather than restore, the Blue Bridge – information the campaign had been able to uncover, concerns over documents that are not publicly available, and the questions raised regarding the process, and consultation. The presentation can be viewed on the johnsonstreetbridge.org web site.
The presentation was followed with a public forum to raise more questions the City may need to answer, concerns, comments and general opinion. The entire meeting was live blogged.
The results of the public comments and questions show some clear results. While everyone attending was well aware of the replacement plan, there was real concern about the lack of public consultation before the decision was made in the spring, and the furthering of the process without adequately informing the public. Most were unaware on how the infrastructure funding (or lack thereof) affects the timeline on the construction goals, and what affect going over budget and over the deadline of March 2011 will have on city coffers. Some openly expressed their disappointment, even anger, at the change in priorities – and felt a sense of betrayal. A general feeling that the current administration will have a difficult battle to regain the trust of the public was apparent.
A few of the meeting attendees should be noted, and thanked for their interest and participation. City of Victoria councillor John Luton, Citizen’s Advisory Committee member (and recent appointee) Cara Segger, Rob Randall – Chairman of the Downtown Resident’s Association, Don Hilman – the creator of victoriabluebridge.com, and Gregory Hartnell of the Concerned Citizen’s Coalition. The Directors would also like to thank everyone who attended.
The meeting concluded with a note the Thursday August 27th Council meeting is the opportunity for everyone who has concerns and questions on the bridge replacement plan to make councillors, and the Mayor, directly aware.
July 16, 2009
The City of Victoria continues to proceed along the path of replacing the Blue Bridge instead of repairing it. The present financial plan seems to be to seek a loan of $63M for the construction process and removal of the existing bridge. Fisheries Canada has given the City a window from November to February for construction in the water as the waterway is a Fisheries habitat.
The best information we have been able to obtain suggests that 10% of the citizens of Victoria reject the borrowing proposal. It will therefore have to go to full City wide referendum for approval. To date we still have not seen the detailed engineering report which would help decide the wisdom of replacement or repair. Clearly the repair costs can be significantly lower. We have asked City Hall for the latest numbers for replacement versus repair and will report those shortly.
The current practical process means that the City must wait to hear if it has received any infrastructure money from the federal government and/or provincial money to support the reconstruction. The amount being sought by the City is $43M, leaving approx $21M -$23M to be the responsibility of the taxpayers of the City of Victoria. If the federal and provincial grants are not approved, the City taxpayers will be responsible for the full cost of $63M.
The fiscal process requires the City to ask of its citizens the approval to borrow either $23M or $63M. If more than 10% of the citizens of the City of Victoria reject the proposal by way of a counter petition, then the City will have to go to full referendum on the subject. The City will not start the counter petition process until it knows about the status of the infrastructure grant so it can accurately report how much money to borrow. The information the City needs is likely to be provided by the federal and provincial governments by September. Although only citizens of the City of Victoria can vote on the funding proposal, moral, ethical and historic support can come from Capital Region residents of other municipalities, together with visitors and tourists from abroad, to help shape the vision of the Victoria city skyline to include the Blue Bridge.