Canada / City of Surrey / Politics / Rants / Transportation — 2 comments — Paul
03
Feb 10

Why Surrey needs to catch up to Mississauga

You may not have heard, but Mississauga, Canada’s largest suburb, has some incredibly innovative plans underway to improve the livability of their city. The reason? They understand that, in today’s world, with unprecedented mobility and high rates of education, the most desirable citizens’ primary factor in choosing a city to settle in is quality of life. These people can live anywhere in the world, so what makes Mississauga more desirable than Manchester, Lyon, Adelaide, Malmo, Santiago, Johannesburg, or Portland? On that front, Mississauga, the city run by an 88 year old for the past 31 years, is aggressively pursuing some major projects.

Which is great for them, and sounds the alarm for us in Surrey. All cities are part of this new world and are already beginning to compete based on how affordable the housing is, whether there are good jobs, how much green space is accessible, how vibrant the culture is, and how well healthcare is run. Many of these spheres the city has a role to play in and Surrey needs to step up to the plate.

We are not competing with Vancouver, or any of the other established cities. We are competing with the other large suburban municipalities on this continent: Oakland, Long Beach, Arlington, Hamilton, Brampton, Laval, and yes, Mississauga.

We already have some advantages. Mississauga is bisected by several major highways, something which doesn’t define Surrey’s urban geography nearly as much. Furthermore, with an 800m road grid, we are not nearly as suburban in built form, which will make densification much easier in the future. In addition, we are in one of the greenest regions in the world, with outstanding clean water, fresh air, and plenty of parks.

But there’s more to a great city than just the core infrastructure. Here’s a list of innovative initiatives Mississauga is planning to undertake:

Move

  • Establish frequent transit service (GO Rail, BRT/LRT) between Mississauga, Union Station and Pearson International Airport
  • Establish maximum block sizes with a perimeter of 400m for all nodes and corridors, to help achieve a more walkable and connected city form when areas are redeveloped
  • Prohibit adding automobile lanes to existing streets, and revisit this prohibition every 20 years.
  • Develop “complete streets” within nodes and corridors by putting a “pedestrian first” filter on projects
  • Ease access to, and increase opportunities to use, community facilities and libraries by ensuring that every resident is no more than a 10-15 minute walk away
  • Build an identifiable centre or “main street” as part of each community, with a network of attractive and pleasant walkways emanating from that centre
  • Build a vibrant state-of-the-art “anchor hub” downtown, which will be the major mobility hub in the western GTA

Belong

  • Implement an integrated affordable housing strategy to accommodate the needs of young adults, older adults and new immigrants to Mississauga.
  • Designate older adult clusters in nodes to provide better access to services
  • Implement an attraction and retention strategy for the 12-24 age demographic
  • Create “cool places” in nodes and corridors, with a focus on appealing to ages 12-24
  • Establish a Mississauga citizenship program, providing orientation for new residents on civic engagement opportunities
  • Assist in the growth of existing multicultural festivals and culturally-diverse events, like Carassauga, and encourage new ones
  • Identify and implement suitable locations to complete neighbourhoods and support community-building with an easily accessible public square

Connect

  • Foster all-season activities on the Credit River, including a continuous walking and cycling trail along its entire length in Mississauga
  • Build an international landmark destination on the waterfront that may also include a “welcome centre” (with entertainment, arts and culture) to spark the area’s potential
  • Develop Riverwood as the “Central Park” for our downtown to create a world class amenity
  • Develop identifiable cultural areas in our nodes and corridors, bringing Mississauga’s cultural and creative diversity to the fore
  • Develop world class annual events/festivals with wide appeal to foster international presence and give Mississauga its recognition as a great city
  • Develop a concentration of local nightlife and entertainment opportunities in the downtown core

Prosper

  • Establish a “Centre for Amateur Sport” to attract regional, national and international athletic talent to the city. This can incorporate a cultural and entertainment component
  • Establish a means to inspire and celebrate creative and innovative excellence in music
  • Establish a “Centre for Innovation” to encourage new entrepreneurs to launch their businesses in Mississauga
  • Develop one major tourist attraction every 10 years
  • Establish a development corporation to fund infrastructure
  • Increase the population target of Mississauga, and use this growth to fund and support new infrastructure
  • Attract an integrated post-secondary education facility in downtown Mississauga (with particular focus in four academic areas: business, health and medical sciences, fire arts and design, and engineering and technology)
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Personal / Portfolio — 3 comments — Paul
30
Jan 10

My Personal Annual Report for 2009

Last year, I started an annual tradition of collecting up all the various statistics about my life – how much music I listened to, how much carbon I emitted in travel, my daily overall mood – and piecing it all together in a visual report. The exercise is inspired by Nicholas Felton, who has produced a similar report annually since 2006.

While my graphic designs skills pale in comparison to his, putting together this year’s report was a fun, albeit tedious, task that gave me some opportunities for insight and reflection on my life in 2009. The exercise is part of a hobby called self tracking, in which, through the collection of data, you learn more about yourself and from which you can then manipulate the goods and the bads in your life.

This year, in addition to general information which is automatically collected through various systems, I also tracked, at the end of a day through a spreadsheet, my overall mood each day, how healthy I was feeling, and how many hours of sleep I got. This information in particular will become more useful over time to help determine what puts me in the best moods, how much I need to regulate my sleep, and how long I can expect to be down and out due to a cold (and when they may hit), with the ultimate goal, of course, to use the data to improve myself and my wellbeing.

So here’s what I tracked:

  • Mood
  • Health
  • Sleep
  • Tweets
  • Travel
  • Computer usage
  • Web usage
  • Blogging
  • Cell phone use
  • Music
  • Movies
  • Links
  • Photos
  • Videos

The document can be viewed in flash below, and downloaded in PDF from Scribd.

The Hillsdon Report 2009

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City of Vancouver / Urban Planning — No comments — Paul
24
Jan 10

Wayfinding signage – the next leap forward for Downtown

It’s always hard for me to grasp how much Downtown Vancouver has changed in the past 30 years, let alone the past decade. And yet, many of the improvements we take for granted today, such as transit and bike lanes, expanded sidewalks, and quality street furniture, are thanks to the Downtown Transportation Plan.

The DTP began development in 1999 under Mayor Philip Owen and was approved by Mayor Larry Campbell’s Council in 2002. The DTP included 83 recommendations to improve the mobility of people downtown, with a priority on making the core more livable.

Many of the “grander” concepts have yet to be achieved, such as the expansion and upgrade of Waterfront Station, the construction of the Helmcken Greenway, and the opening of the Downtown Streetcar. However, these are the exception, with most of the plan completed.

In my opinion, one of the last big recommendations yet to be fulfilled was the “public realm wayfinding system” – in other words, pedestrian signs directing you around the area.

When I visited Portland, Oregon, the entire Downtown had pillar-shaped pedestrian signage every couple blocks. On these info pillars they included a map (with a 10 minute walking bubble), pointed you in the direction of major destinations, and had directions to transit stations. Being a tourist, the system was brilliant and allowed me to move about without a map or having to ask for directions (both of which are embarrassing, no?), plus I discovered a few attractions I wouldn’t have even known about.

So I’ve been anticipating the day that similar signs would come to Vancouver. Happily, that day is finally here.

As part of the Olympics, the City of Vancouver will be installing almost 100 info signs around Downtown. They will initially have temporary maps directing people to Olympic destinations, but will be replaced with general “wayfinding” maps. The first pillar can be found outside the Canada Line Olympic Village station.

Exciting, isn’t it?!

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City of Vancouver / Metro Vancouver / Transportation — 5 comments — Paul
16
Jan 10

How 2010 can be the year of the streetcar

I recently wrote about how the old Interurban, a former commuter rail service between Vancouver and the suburbs, may see a revival this year. Well, it’s not the only train that will be returning to the region – the City of Vancouver is bringing the streetcar back with the Olympic Line!

The Olympic Line is a 1.8km demonstration project that will whisk passengers, for free, between the Olympic Village Canada Line station and Granville Island. The streetcars start running January 21 and will operate for sixty days, at which point the cars, on loan from Brussels, will go back to Europe.

It may sound short and sweet, but there’s a lot riding on those sixty days.

Plans for a Downtown Streetcar have been around for at least a decade. I first wrote about the project in 2007, explaining how the City planned to build a line that would connect Granville Island and the Olympic Village to Science World, Chinatown, Gastown, Waterfront Station, and Stanley Park. It was a stroke of genius in my mind.

I had visited Portland, Oregon and experienced modern streetcars for myself. The City of Portland has hailed the streetcar as a tremendous success – the line jumpstarted billions of dollars of development along its route. Not to mention all the drivers it got out of their cars.

The problem north of the 49th parallel was finding the money. Despite a political commitment from the City, Vancouver just doesn’t have the cash. In fact, the first phase was upwards of $100 million. Not chump change for a cash strapped municipality, and this was before the recession!

At the time, TransLink wasn’t officially broke yet, though they weren’t showing any interest in funding such a project. The heat was on, back then, to start providing real transit options to Coquitlam and the South of Fraser. Vancouver had gotten its share. For TransLink, the Downtown Streetcar didn’t make sense financially or politically.

That was then and this is now.

The City of Vancouver coughed up $8 million, and partnered with CMHC (owners of Granville Island) and Bombardier to get this demonstration project going.

Here’s where the current story gets interesting. Word is picking up about the streetcars; conversation is beginning. Bob Ransford wrote a piece in the Sun demanding the streetcar remain as an Olympic Legacy. CityCaucus, Miss604, and Stephen Rees, among others, were invited to an early press showing. This buzz is critical.

Word on the street is that the success of this project will determine how viable it will be to complete the rest of the project. You can bet your bottom dollar that business, civic, and political leaders from all stripes will be keeping an eye on the Olympic Line.

The City is touting the advantages of this project. From their factsheet:

A recent survey of tourists and Lower Mainland residents revealed that over 80 per cent are in favour of streetcar service linking Granville Island with Downtown and the Canada Line. Early financial analysis suggests there would be high usage and a better than break-even operation – a significant finding for any potential new transit system. The project would, however, need contributions from many partners to be realized.

That last line, about the “better than breaking-even”, and “contributions from many partners” is key. The City has done the research and the stats show that this line would make money. Something TransLink is so desperate for these days.

Which may be why, according to Vancouver City Councillor Geoff Meggs, TransLink may be changing their tune on this project. According to Meggs, “TransLink is prepared to consider the contribution the line could make to ridership on a proposed extension of the Broadway SkyTrain line.”

With the City and TransLink onboard, the Feds or Provincial government would only need to cough up a pittance to finish Phase 1. It could be part of second wave of stimulus. Or maybe Gordo’s farewell gift to his hometown prior to stepping down as Premier. In any case, it certainly would fit in well with Gregor’s Greenest City Agenda.

The stars are aligning for the streetcar. But its ridership will be of the utmost importance.

The Olympic Line will be here for 60 days. This streetcar needs to burst its seams.

The Line needs to receive the same attention that had the Golden Ears Bridge shutdown with over 40,000 pedestrians. The same attention that had hour long lineups for the Canada Line on opening day.

This is our chance to prove that we are ready for a real streetcar revival. Let’s make it happen.

Follow @2010Streetcar on Twitter

Opening Celebrations January 21 @ 9:30 am, Olympic Village Station

Operating every 10 minutes daily from 6:30 am to 12:30 am till March 21st.

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City of Surrey / Transportation — 1 comment — Paul
07
Jan 10

Will 2010 be the year of the Interurban?

I’ve been talking about restoring the former Valley rail service since this blog began in 2006. My initial interest in it arose because of the route’s proximity to both my home and my former high school, Sullivan Heights. The Interurban tracks ran so close between the two that the half hour bus ride would’ve been slashed in half on the train.

I then discovered that it was an extremely affordable opportunity to bring rail transit back to Surrey – much cheaper than any SkyTrain extension. Unfortunately, since 2006, Surrey has seen little more than some general service improvements to the bus network – heck, we can’t even get a bloody B-Line started.

Now that I’m a Kwantlen student, the route once again piqued my interest – connecting my home in Cloverdale almost directly with the Langley campus of Kwantlen. In fact, did you know, the Interurban connects two Kwantlen campuses, Trinity Western University, and the University of the Fraser Valley, leading some to dub it the Knowledge Network. But I digress.

I did some research and it seems like 2010 may finally be the year some new energy is jolted into the fight to restore rail service in the Valley. Here’s why:

1. The municipalities are working together

Despite the fact that there is now four community advocacy groups for the Interurban – VALTAC, Rail for the Valley, South Fraser OnTrax, and the Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society – the municipalities in the Fraser Valley have never collectively worked together on this initiative. Langley had explored Interurban service in its Downtown Master Plan, Abbotsford contemplated it during the update to the Fraser Valley Regional Growth Strategy, and Surrey even formed and funded a Heritage Rail Task Force. It was all piecemeal however.

This appears to be in the past. Langley Township Mayor Rick Green worked over the summer to convince the municipalities to join forces under the new South of Fraser Community Rail Task Force. The main goal? To get a demonstration project off the ground within two years.

As I’ve learnt, the key to advocacy is to get everyone on the same message, presenting a strong and unified voice when demanding for change. This is just one more step to getting to that point.

2. Passenger rights to the route have been secured

The former Interurban used to be owned and operated by BC Hydro. When they sold off the tracks, the contract included a clause ensuring rights to use the route for passenger service in the future. It is a lucky clause indeed, as it removes one of the most obvious barriers and forces the rail companies to allow rail service – whenever it is finally approved.

The rights were to expire last summer. However, BC Hydro acted smartly and has renewed these rights.

3. A demonstration project is in the works

The Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society has been painstakingly working to restore an original Interurban car – BCER 1225. Although restoration may be years behind schedule, it is nearing completion. FVHRS expects to be able to put the train back on Interurban tracks later this year, although they need some money to do so.

They’ve launched the One Passenger at a Time campaign to raise $1.5 million. A donation of $50 guarantees you a spot when the demonstration project begins. All FVHRS needs is 30,000 people to donate and the money is secured. The $1.5 million will fund a spur line to connect with the Interurban tracks, a replica baggage car that will contain generators to power the car, and an extension to the car barn, which will allow the restoration of BCER 1304.

The importance of the demonstration project cannot be understated. Ideas and images are real motivators in a fight like this, but nothing is more powerful than actually feeling and touching something in real life.

Having a real train operating on the Interurban tracks, and allowing people to ride the route – the effect will be unprecedented. Citizens will be able to experience what restored train service in the Valley is like and I suspect will cause a groundswell of support from nearly the entire community demanding modern transit service be established.

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