TransLink had it’s last board meeting under the old structure on December 12th, and the Mayors’ Council has approved the new nine member board of professionals. Unfortunately, the names have yet to be released, but as Jeff Nagel at The Black Press reports, it doesn’t seem very fruitful for the region…

As Maple Ridge Mayor Gordy Robson says, “Out of the whole list of 15, there were two east of Boundary Road.”

“They were business people downtown primarily. That’s awfully weighted toward the City of Vancouver and the downtown business community.”

The mayors initially debated whether to make any choice at all or to send the decision back to transportation minister Kevin Falcon, who spearheaded the radical reform of TransLink over objections of many civic leaders.

But Surrey and Vancouver mayors opposed that motion and it was defeated in a weighted vote, which gives the two big cities enough clout to outvote the rest of the region.

I will refrain from making any real judgements until the list is revealed publicly, but didn’t we know this going in? I mean, after all, the screening panel was full of people from the Board of Trade, the Gateway Council, Chartered Accountants, a Ministry appointment, and the Mayors’ Council’s choice of Mike Harcourt. No matter what Harcourt may have wanted, he was outnumbered 4/5 by the business sector.

—————————————————–

EDIT:

Frances Luba, from The Province, did her own short report on the matter, and there were a few interesting quotes I’d like to bring your attention to.

The abuse continued yesterday with a series of sarcastic awards from the orange-shirted Bus Riders Union, whose members disrupted the meeting in Richmond council chambers with their chants of “Transit for all! BRU fights on!”

“Are you people so deluded that you think you’re going to speak to the new board?” said MacLean, the mayor of Pitt Meadows.

They will be in charge of the 26th biggest company in B.C., with an operating budget of nearly $1 billion, capital projects worth $4 billion and almost 6,000 employees.

The old board learned its replacement will cost $1.2 million to $1.5 million to operate compared with its own cost of $300,00 to $400,000.

The mechanics of how the new board will operate remain unclear, which is why one of the old TransLink board’s last acts was to approve a motion calling on the new board to make its agenda and minutes public, as well as holding its meetings in public.

Sphere: Related Content