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johnsonstreetbridge.org Volunteers Deliver over 10 000 Signatures to Victoria City Hall
Petitions Delivered
The residents of Victoria have made history. This is the first time since the Alternative Approval Process thresholds were changed from 5% to 10%, that a counter-petition has passed in the City of Victoria. In order for the community to require city council to reconsider their majority decision on borrowing $42 million to replace the Johnson Street Bridge, more than 6343 valid petitions had to be submitted by the deadline of January 4th, at 4:30 pm.
It is a testament to the volunteers who canvassed for signatures over the Christmas and New Year holiday season, and in all weathers, that the number of signatures far exceeded the requirement. Their dedication, and the response from the Victoria community and region, is a clear signal to the City of Victoria Mayor and Council – that their majority decision to replace the Blue Bridge requires in-depth public consultation, and open information.
Blue Bridge Petition By the Numbers
Total number of petition forms collected as of 12 pm Monday January 4th: 10 712
Number of petitions that should be declared valid under City of Victoria guidelines: 9105
Number of questionable Victoria resident petitions: 256
Number of petitions received from outside the City of Victoria (Capital Regional District): 1351
Saanich, Central and North Saanich, and Sidney: 580
Oak Bay: 189
Esquimalt: 200
View Royal: 38
Colwood, Langford, Metchosin, Sooke and The HIghlands: 96
Outside CRD: 9
The numbers submitted do not include those received directly to Victoria City Hall. Staff of the City of Victoria Legislative Services will deliver a final report to Council.
Photos
Petition final day
Hall
Petition Day in City Hall
NICE GOING
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mat Wright and Lisa Fife, Anny Schaefer. Anny Schaefer said: RT @lafife: Johnson Street Bridge Petition Passes – By a Mile! http://bit.ly/6D1LPm #yyj #victoriabc #bc – thanks to all the volunteers! [...]
When Victoria Council voted on Nov 19 against a referendum, and instead opted for counter-petition process, I felt it was unfair given the valid opposing points of view and questions that had been raised by citizens to date. I also felt Johnsonstreetbridge.org had been dealt a severe blow. It was certainly going to be difficult to get the required 6.343 signatures. There wasn’t much time, we were heading into a very busy time of year, not much information on the process was forthcoming from City Hall. A David and Goliath scenario, so to speak.
After the result delivered today it would appear Council underestimated the level distrust and anger many Victorians have for the current Council.
A common refrain from those signing the petition was, “I’m glad you’re doing this!”
I am grateful for the time many people invested in this campaign – the canvassers, volunteers, those who worked tirelessly to keep the campaign going, and to the leadership of the JSB directors.
I know it’s not over yet, but today marked a major milestone in our collective push for a better option than borrowing $42 to replace the Blue Bridge.
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Way too go!!!!!
Congratulations!! And thank you to all the hardworking volunteers.
Awesome! Bloody well done! Democracy in action!
Chew on that, Lynn Hunter.
Talk about Grassroots Organizing 101!
Thank you, johnsonstreetbridge.org organizers and volunteers! Your actions are truly inspiring!
Of course.
Council’s vulgarity, arrogance and paternalism turned their own supporters decisively against them.
The clout City Hall could muster: vast financial resources, 6 spin doctors, complete message control, only 1 councilor in opposition, barrages of spin-doctored “information” – proved irrelevant.
A disgraceful autocracy was humiliated.
Council must recognize that not one among them polled as many as 10,000 votes.
http://www.civicinfo.bc.ca/election2008/reports/electionresults2008.asp
9887 = Thornton-Joe
9017 = Madoff
8002 = Chandler
7926 = Hunter
7706 = Fortin
7042 = Lucas
6102 = Coleman
6002 = Luton
By next election, if these individuals remain unchastened, a tsunami awaits to flush the lot out the door.
On an issue of this magnitude Council was obliged to proceed respectfully, honestly and transparently. Nothing prevented Council from seeing the wisdom to negotiate and not brawl with the electorate. By treating the public like dirt, no image is more to blame for this drubbing than Council’s abusive and disdainful rants seen on You-Tube.
Johnson Street Bridge dot Org? If there’s any money left – pop the champagne, celebrate till dawn. Despite every disadvantage you’ve renewed a democracy, with tireless effort and faith.
Victoria owes you more gratitude than can ever be repaid. Congratulations for a brilliant victory.
So, Any idea how much this new referendum will end up costing us too?
I would lake to thank all those involved with jsb.org for their hard work over the past few months. As a Saanich resident I was not able to sign, but you have all set a precedent for other municipalities in BC to follow.
Congratulations and thank you for all the hard work. It is exciting to see democracy in action.
In my estimate it is very rare for a grassroots group of citizens to win through such obstinancy and arrogance such has been shown by Dean Fortin and much of his team on the Bridge issue . So I awaken this morning both refreshed and pleased by our win ~ and yet sobered by it as well . Tons of sensible negotiations and hard work now to be accomplished by all involved . I take some little comfort though ~ in the Mayor and Lynn Hunter now choking on humble pie ! Cheers , Mike Lee
I’m not confident that we have an impartial scrutinizing process going on at City Hall:
http://gregoryhartnell.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/classic-robert-woodland-discretion-its-not-that-youre-on-the-voters-list-its-that-youre-eligible-to-be-on-the-voters-list/
Mr. Woodland, chief bureaucrat at City Hall, wears two hats, and has a history of abusing his so-called ‘discretion’ as Chief Electoral Officer in past elections, and should never have been allowed to oversee this petition counting process.
Still, with at least 10,900 petitions counted by JSB.ORG and only 6,343 needed to win, it would take an awful lot of monkey-business to determine
that more than 4,557 of them were invalid.
Congratulations and well done. I did not fill out the petition because I did not reside in the City of Victoria at the time but I was there in spirit. Way to go.
Someone named “Rob” (seriously compromised, apparently, by Monday’s humiliation) asks –
“So, Any idea how much this new referendum will end up costing us too?”
Yup.
Less than one Mayor’s outrageous take home – that’s $97,700, plus unknown perks. That’s after a $23,000 self-approved raise – in a global recession! What modesty!
Less than all the $120,000 spin doctors hired to provide doctored, um, “information.” Meaning spin pamphlets, now publicly repuiated by a Delcan Engineering VP.
And 1/420th what the bridge boondoggle is “estimated” to cost us all, with interest, for more than 20 years. More than $3 million per annum.
Sure looks like that Referendum is a bargain. But you’d disagree, right Rob?
That said, I doubt Council has the wits to know when it’s time to back down and say ‘uncle.’ They seem determined to defy the electorate.
Councilor Luton for example is on record in The Globe as saying the issue still is “safety.” Yup. A “35% risk over 50 years.” Safety… You betcha.
In the Globe MLA Flemming blames BC Liberals for not ponying up money on demand. Nothing heard from MP Savoie, who backed the losing side with such implausible gusto.
Councilor Hunter continues to rave and rant as the Left’s Rush Limbaugh.
Somehow these individuals imagine it is their duty to assume the mantle of philosopher-royalty and not merely incite dissent but fan it against themselves.
For reasons unknown apparent-leader Carole James continues to play ‘Ostrich In Chief’ and entirely ignores the spreading blight in her own political rose garden. I that really smart?
Despite the public having changed the game, Council and the NDP don’t want to quit. So either Thursday, or sometime later, expect some ugly counter-moves. And with them, more months (or years) of spin, lies, conflict, declining support for St. Fortin and his Angels, and growing blowback against the NDP.
It’s a hunch. Let’s hope I’m wrong.
Lets hope we put the final nail into the coffin of this New Bridge “Legacy” Project.
Congratulations to all involved in this effort. I’m inspired by your work. I wish I would have known I could have signed a petition (even if rejected, I live in Oak Bay), as I use the bridge too.
See my sketch of the bridge on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mc_images/3698839623/sizes/l/
It’s damage control time with John ‘Loony Tunes’ Luton suggesting the true ‘more realistic’ costs of replacing the bascule are $57,000,000:
http://gregoryhartnell.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/john-lutons-loony-tunes-the-potential-for-cost-escalation-elevated-estimates-to-a-more-realistic-57000000/
Like the $35,000,000 figure used by Mayor Fortin last year, this figure is conjured completely out of thin air, without the bother of any kind of realistic costing analysis provided by the huffing Councillor.
Gregory!
“AUTHENTIC ANTIQUE REPRODUCTIONS!”
This sign was posted on prominent display when the Bay Centre still was the Eaton’s Centre.
Passing by, I stopped to ask a sales clerk, “Are you people insane? How can a “reproduction” of anything be in any way “authentic? It’s a REPRODUCTION!”
The sales clerk’s responded, “Ah, yes…that. Well, um, no. You can’t. You see, Marketing put it up…”
Ah yes, Marketing.
Marketing, meaning enhancing the desire to sell an inferior product or concept by inflating abstract misinformation. “Cures Warts AND Pays Your Mortgage! Get Some While Supplies Last! Hurry!”
As you say – Looney Tunes. But not nearly so funny and quite perverse. A kind of slapstick hate crime foisted on the credulous.
Thus – Toilets reflect Prestige; Price Gouging represents Value; Integrity represents sweat shop Reliability, and so on.
Marketing is a reprehensible habit swindlers borrowed from compulsive liars. Later it was made exceptionally profitable by professional crooks of various kinds at various levels of commerce and politics.
Marketing can be used effectively to discredit opposition. For instance say it was desirable to prop up a discredited boondoggle. It requires only a steady flow of false but plausible negatives. Hence anyone, regardless of qualifications, can state that it’s “more realistic” to estimate repair cost of your sewing machine at “a modest $151 billion” and base the assertion on absolutely zero concrete evidence.
Why go so far? Because ambitious and nervous pitchmen routinely dare not admit to being wrong, especially if it affects ego, investment, or investment in ego. Such people know better than to expect the whole truth to work in their favour. So they shun it, when not denouncing it..
A more honest and academically responsible – “perhaps,” “we think,” “maybe,” “possibly,” or “it could happen that,” must be disallowed. Spin must assert: “it can only mean..” And thus, hopefully clinch that sale.
Some years back a sagacious old fellow described tolerating this nefarious idiocy as follows –
“How many legs does a dog have, if you call a tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.”
– Abraham Lincoln
‘Duly chastised…’ says Mr. Luton, but his whole tone in these remarks seems defiant, defensive, and not a little demented…
Surely, tomorrow would be a good day for the ‘chastised’ Victoria City Council to finally acknowledge the obvious, which is that the opposition, represented by all those good people who signed the petition, now has more ethical authority on the whole issue of the fate of the Johnson Street Bridge than Council itself, just by virtue of our numbers vis a vis the considerably less number of people who voted for these characters in the last election.
Bearing that in mind, it is time that the Council recognized the heritage significance of the Joseph Strauss-designed bascule by designating it a City of Victoria-recognized Heritage Site.
As Avery Moore’s topical letter to Victoria Heritage Foundation Executive Director Brigitte Clark reminds us, the City’s own commissioned ‘Delcan Report’ on the condition of the bridge subcontracted the heritage assessment to Commonwealth Historic Resource Management Limited.
Commonwealth’s ‘scholarly Blue Bridge heritage assessment,’ as Mr. Moore called it, makes for ‘enlightening’ reading.
For the most significant quotes from that Commonwealth heritage report, please refer to Mr. Moore’s open letter to the Victoria Heritage Foundation Executive Director, found here:
http://gregoryhartnell.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/avery-moore-heritage-assessment-of-the-johnson-street-bridge-victoria-is-an-enlightening-read/
@ Matthew from Urban Sketchers: thank you for posting your drawing of the JSB. Love love LOVE the work of urban sketchers, by the way – heard of you guys a while back, and felt immediately fired up, in the sense of wanting to go out and do this, too. Seeing with paper and pencil is so important. And isn’t it great that you can put your work on flickr, which is typically so geared toward camera / digital technology?
@Saren: that’s some interesting sh*t you have on your link there!
Love the reply from Counc. Lynn Hunter, for example. Could she dig herself a bigger hole?
This one, from Counc. John Luton, is truly astonishing: he corrects you on a typo, while he would spend our tax monies in a bonfire:
O.M.G. …
[...] or go to a referendum. On Monday January 4th organizers and volunteers of johnsonstreetbridge.org delivered over 10,700 collected petitions, of which 9105 should be considered valid under the conditions set by City of Victoria Legislative [...]
Any statisticians on this thread? It would be interesting to ask a qualified professional to compare risk against risk.
As Ms. Heibel observes, Lyn Hunter continues to rant about ‘HAZARD!’ A very specific warning deliverd in the most ridiclously generally terms, meaning, without ever bothering to quantify it. John Luton recites the same fact-unburdened spin. Forget the actual odds make the bet as Council pitches it to you.
Having been humiliated (and done an awful job of rallying public support) doubtless Council’s hired fear merchants are hard at work trying to revive the failed boondoggle pitch with – it’s still ‘necessary.’ This excuse pretends that the risk always was dire, But, oh goilly, we just didn’t sell you hard enough. Pity. The public is just so foollishly unafraid of what we tell them to fear…
AKA: The sky is falling pitch…
As a number, what exactly is our huge risk purported to be?
Ooops! It’s “35%” over a 50 year span.
A qualifier is added. The risk is entirely dependent upon a specific event. A large EARTHQUAKE. A catastrophe. One in which much of the downtown would be flattened, the roads impassible, City Hall propbably turned to rubble, and who knows how much other human and property damage would be spread across the south island?
But we’re asked to ignore all that to spend $63,000,000 because of 1 bridge?
If no earthquake? Big Blue remains fully functional because no one seriously contends that, as it stands, it is a risk and it isn’t a Heritage Landmark.
How does Council’s sudden episodic attacks of apparent-paranoia compare with other risks over the same span?
For instance, what is the likelihood of being involved in a car accident, or multiple accidents over 50 years? What’s the likelihood of car theft, the likelihood of breakins and property theft? And so on.
Why is this panic over “35% over 50 years” any different a misuse of priorities than Council claiming that housing the homeless is so URGENT – that implementation must be delayed for 7 to 10 more years?
Add one more item. What is the risk to thousands of homeless people that they will be alive next year, let alone 7 to 10 years from now?
Here’s a hint…
http://www.canadaeast.com/news/article/836701
“Homeless, rooming house residents at risk for early death: study”
“In a 10-year study, researchers found the chance of surviving to age 75 among the homeless or inadequately housed is 32 per cent for men and 60 per cent for women, compared to 51 per cent and 72 per cent respectively for the lowest income group in Canada’s population.
To put that in perspective, the probability that a 25-year-old man living today in marginal housing would make it to age 75 is equal to the life expectancy of the average young male in 1921 – long before the advent of antibiotics and other life-saving treatments.”
Now then Council, about those numbers…
Well, great job then! Let’s get on with voting for a REPLACEMENT, something more modern and efficient!
oh.. and by the way Avery, I’m not feeling foolish by being outvoted on this issue.. ya’ll elected a Campbell government again
@Yule I didn’t mind the correction, just happy to get a reply
I just hope there is now time to do a proper analysis of the seismic liabilities compared to the cost of a seismic upgrade and if the referendum could reduce this liability if it is seen as due diligence (the city making an honest attempt to implement seismic upgrades). I’m bugging an economist friend to determine the amount of liability that would justify a seismic upgrade.
It also seems prudent to include a study of other city-owned earthquake liabilities such as city hall and crystal pool to determine if the bridge deserves priority by this factor alone.
If it’s determined that a seismic upgrade is not required due to liability issues alone the referendum should include the option of forgoing it entirely. The option between a replacement and a seismic upgrade of the current seems to weigh heavily in favour of replacement.
The main question for me then is not whether to replace the bridge or not, but whether we need a seismic upgrade at all.
Earth to “ROB”
Most days, dim-bulb Optimism can be useful. But you have to remember that wishing for something can’t ever substitute for actual contact with reality.
While out there in your Deep Space Cowboy-Cult Orbit it’s only natural that you’d misunderestimate that your divinatory crystal ball has flummoxed your frontal lobe.
For example: Y’all can’t ‘know’ I “elected a Campbell government again” because I didn’t. If anyone would know – I would. If anyone wouldn’t know – it has to be you.
Was that too quick for you?
Another example: While suspended in pre-enlightenment limbo, it isn’t obvious that a ‘replacement vote’ won’t be the result of a successful counter-petition to halt it.
“ROB”, colloquially speaking, your team just got whupped upside the head, dragged to the barn, drop-kicked, and had its ass handed back to it pickled in a mason jar.
That’s country-simple-talk for sayin y’all appear to have an insight problem.
Be clear on it sport. You bet the farm on the Titanic. It sank. Of course it hurts.
Given the plight you, and others perhaps even weirder, must suffer, the winning side hopes that someday you’ll somehow recognize your illness. Hopefully soon, before you sit in your trucks and hurt yourselves further by trying to think.
Why are you brain-froze in perpetual error?
DENIAL –
“Denial is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence. The subject may use:
* simple denial – deny the reality of the unpleasant fact altogether
* minimisation – admit the fact but deny its seriousness, or
* projection – admit both the fact and seriousness but deny responsibility.
“ROB,” what makes recovery from Denial so tricky is that, as in Dementia, the part of the noggin that needs to be properly tuned in (to accept reality exactly as it is) is too hooped to round up that ornery herd of thoughts.
…or know what a herd is.
No one blames you for your delicate condition, but don’t be surprised when your rants raise only a laugh and a WTF? You are not alone in your deep and shocked disappointment. The internet abounds with the cries of scandalized and wounded Fortin-cheerleaders.