[herbie]

I moved up north 21 years ago, the Patullo bridge was in need of replacement then. The Port Mann was in need of widening then. Hell it was in need of widening by 1980.
We're gonna spend $1 billion on security for the Olympics and twin the Port Mann with a toll bridge soon? 10 years to replace the Patullo? That's fucked.
And the strength of the anti-car lobby down there is absurd. Not one of those pinheads has noticed 50% of the "cars" on the bridges are delivery trucks. Delivering the shit you want to buy and eat for dinner to the stores. They won't 'go away'.
Worse, not a peep from Ottawa over tolls on the Trans-Canada. The Port Mann is not just for you to get to work. It's for ME to get from Prince George too. Toll free!

[xerxes]

Part of the problem goes back a few decades as well. I think it was in the 60's there was a lot of debate on whether to build raised highways in the city like you see in places like Seattle. But the city planners at the time decided to choose the city's looks over foreplanning.

[ShepherdsDog]

How long have they been talking about replacing the Lion's Gate, or turning it into a bicycle/pedestrian crossing?

[ridenrain]

xerxes xerxes:

Part of the problem goes back a few decades as well. I think it was in the 60's there was a lot of debate on whether to build raised highways in the city like you see in places like Seattle. But the city planners at the time decided to choose the city's looks over foreplanning.

"because we know more freeways are not the answer".. but they ignored transit and refused to believe that the GVRD would actually get bigger. They watched as property values sky-rocketed and everyone who wanted to buy a house moved out into the valley.
They can keep patting themselves on the back and calling their city so livable but go east of main and the whole house of cars falls apart.

[ridenrain]

Fixed it for ya.

[CanadianLynx]

ridenrain ridenrain:

The RCMP are not a single municipal police force. They are a frightening state police force. It made sense when Surrey was a hick town but we're becomming the largest part of the GVRD and we need to stop being so cheap.

Wonder why our state police force.."RCMP" haven't gotten around to tasering those homeless people?
Guess we can blame the RCMP for being negligent

[ridenrain]

Their now going to go look for those homeless folks. It's almost certain that their campfire set the bridge on fire so I can't see these homeless wanting to be found. Pitty the RCMP couldn't find these bums when they were told repeatedly, exactly where they were, before the bridge caught fire.

Yup. I'm blaming the RCMP for this one.

[ziggy]

If someone lodged a complaint with the RCMP then a file would have been made up and they usually have to respond to the complaint and follow up with the file.Once the complaint was dispatched it would all be on the computer.

So did anyone ever lodge a complaint about the fires?

[ridenrain]

It sounds like this was well known:

$1:

RCMP say the south end of the bridge deck sheltered a homeless encampment but it's not clear if the fire was set deliberately or the result of a campfire that got out of control.

"One of the things we're going to try and do is identify the people that were down there and chat with them as to what's taken place," said RCMP spokesman Sgt. Roger Morrow.

"Was it the homeless; were they trying to keep themselves warm, or was it someone else who was doing something more nefarious?"

Morrow said the three or four homeless camped under the bridge appeared well organized, with people's allotted areas marked out.

"They were even, if you want to use the term, policing themselves," he said.

Investigators have established they had a fire going Sunday, either for cooking or to keep warm.

Morrow said the forensic investigation may be complicated by the fact the fire department had to go back more than once to douse the fire, which could make it harder to conclude if it was an accident or arson.

[TattoodGirl]

ziggy ziggy:

If someone lodged a complaint with the RCMP then a file would have been made up and they usually have to respond to the complaint and follow up with the file.Once the complaint was dispatched it would all be on the computer.

So did anyone ever lodge a complaint about the fires?

Alot of people in that area have filed complaints with the City.