A journey into the heart of Southwest BRT saga
An oddly contentious transit project more than seven years in the making was back on council’s agenda earlier this week.
The unsuccessful pitch to pause the second phase of the southwest bus rapid transit (BRT) line was the most recent chapter in an angry story that’s spurred levels of drama unusual for expanded transit service.
This week’s episode of the Confluence Podcast dives deep into the history of the 22-kilometre route. Listeners are brought up to speed on what’s happened between this week’s council vote and late 2010, when 50,000 southwest residents first received a mail-out about the project.
Here are five notable quotes from the saga: I am 10 years old and I’m here to speak to you today, not because I know a lot about traffic — I still sit in the back seat, all I know is that traffic sucks — but, because of my knowledge of process optimization. In the last year I’ve read several books on the subject.
—A CHILD, who was one of 80 speakers, that spoke to a council committee at a nearly 16- hour meeting on the southwest BR Ton July 20 and 21, 2016.
Take a look at the people that live west of 14th Street. Take a good hard look at them and then tell me that those people are going to take public transit? My great aunt’s a--.
— CBC CAPTURED AN OPPONENT OF THE SOUTHWEST BRT STATING THIS TO A CITY STAFF MEMBER AT AN OPEN HOUSE IN 2016.
I’m wearing my pink shirt today. When we think of pink shirt day we think of bullying in schools and we think of protecting our kids from bullies. But, you know what, we need to protect our entire community from bullies.
— MAYOR NAHEED NENSHI ON FEB .24,2016, during an announcement that faceto-face consultations on the southwest BR T would be suspended, amid allegations civil servants were abused and threatened.
Democracy is what it’s all about. If the two councillors in the area are getting the feedback from their constituents that we should put this on pause, well, we should respect that, at the end of the day, it’s democracy.
—WARD 3 CO UN. JOE MAGLIOCCA DURING COUNCIL DEBATE OVER AN UN SUCCESSFUL PITCH TO PAUSE THE SOUTHWEST BRT PROJECT ON NOV .13,2017. —WARD 11 CO UN. JEROMY FARKAS, when asked why Ward 13 Coun. DIANE COLLEY- URQUHART, WHO SIGNED A NOTICE OF MO - TION WITH HIM ASKING FOR A PHASE 2 PROJECT PAUSE, DIDN’ T ATTEND THE DEBATE OR 11-3 VOTE ON NOV .13, 2 0 17.
I guess you could say I got thrown under the bus.