Post by Neil on May 27, 2007 22:30:56 GMT -8
"a fatal flaw in the process, akin to setting a hospital budget without taking the effect on patients into account."
That's a great analogy, and points out the boneheaded, politically driven stupidity of the Coastal Ferries Act aiming to make the smaller island routes self supporting. The point about island residents getting very little for their taxes is also bang on, and should figure in people's thinking before they accuse islanders of freeloading on fares.
The article also alludes to a broader issue that may not be of much interest on a ferries discussion forum, but I'll make the point anyway.
We are rapidly becoming a society where only the well off can live near the water, and on islands. Consider that not so long ago, Vancouver's Kitsilano was a working class neighbourhood, and that the Fairview slopes were home to working poor, before False Creek was cleaned up, and the condo developers moved in. Surrey's Crescent Beach, White Rock, many of our coastal islands, and other areas of the coast are changing drastically, with working class families and people of modest means being forced out by skyrocketing property values as the more affluent buy up the limited amount of waterfront and near waterfront available. Our Hornby property (not waterfront) is worth twelve times what we paid for it twenty two years ago; we certainly couldn't afford it today.
BC Ferries is contributing to the spiral of demographic change with the ongoing fare increases, as the articles above point out. The Liberals said they were taking politics out of the ferries structure.... hell, they left the politics in, and added social engineering for good measure. Whole communities could be transformed, as prohibitive transportation costs are added to an already growing snowball of real estate pressures. Declining school enrollments, declining volunteerism, less of a sense of community in general, as the houses get fancier and the fences higher. Ferry fares don't cause it exclusively, but the Liberals' marine transportation structure is contributing to a transformation of our coast that will end up shutting out a significant segment of the population.
That's a great analogy, and points out the boneheaded, politically driven stupidity of the Coastal Ferries Act aiming to make the smaller island routes self supporting. The point about island residents getting very little for their taxes is also bang on, and should figure in people's thinking before they accuse islanders of freeloading on fares.
The article also alludes to a broader issue that may not be of much interest on a ferries discussion forum, but I'll make the point anyway.
We are rapidly becoming a society where only the well off can live near the water, and on islands. Consider that not so long ago, Vancouver's Kitsilano was a working class neighbourhood, and that the Fairview slopes were home to working poor, before False Creek was cleaned up, and the condo developers moved in. Surrey's Crescent Beach, White Rock, many of our coastal islands, and other areas of the coast are changing drastically, with working class families and people of modest means being forced out by skyrocketing property values as the more affluent buy up the limited amount of waterfront and near waterfront available. Our Hornby property (not waterfront) is worth twelve times what we paid for it twenty two years ago; we certainly couldn't afford it today.
BC Ferries is contributing to the spiral of demographic change with the ongoing fare increases, as the articles above point out. The Liberals said they were taking politics out of the ferries structure.... hell, they left the politics in, and added social engineering for good measure. Whole communities could be transformed, as prohibitive transportation costs are added to an already growing snowball of real estate pressures. Declining school enrollments, declining volunteerism, less of a sense of community in general, as the houses get fancier and the fences higher. Ferry fares don't cause it exclusively, but the Liberals' marine transportation structure is contributing to a transformation of our coast that will end up shutting out a significant segment of the population.