The City of Victoria wants you to answer an online survey about the “public realm” around the new Johnson Street Bridge. But will it have the cash to implement the results? [...]
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Enjoy the view: it now costs $15.8 million more City of Victoria staff have just posted a report announcing that the new estimate for the new Johnson Street Bridge is $92.8 million, up $15.8 million from the $77 million calculated in June 2010. Download the report: https://victoria.civicweb.net/FileStorage/8432A667772F4E55AA7A793226BE3F4D-WorkspaceJSB Report .pdf The report has been prepared [...] A call for action. Delays in publishing City of Victoria reports on the seismic safety of buildings are an affront to Citizen Engagement. [...] If voters knew all that in November 2010, would they have thought differently about maxing out the City’s manageable debt on a $77-million, 8.5-quake-ready new bridge? It’s impossible to say. But no matter what, the Fire Hall report should have been released promptly, so voters would have had a more complete picture of the City’s immediate infrastructure needs, and the desperate state of its finances. [...] The terms of the Project Charter, a document and process designed to provide transparency and accountability to the City’s largest single infrastructure project, are not being met. Staff have failed to promptly notify you of a serious risk to the project, pushed for the severing of a historic rail link when it might have been preserved, and now want to undertake a public-relations exercise that may prove both costly and pointless. These concerns must be resolved before approving current, and future, recommendations on the scope of the Johnson Street Bridge project. [...] 
It’s hard to say what all the factors were in the result. Might’ve been that editorials in newspapers and on radio stations called for Yes, believing that the old bridge would have to be replaced eventually anyway. Or that the City spent at least $50,000 of taxpayers’ money on its “Vote Yes” campaign, with endorsements from local celebrities, cyclists, and business personalities fearful of the City’s threat of a 12-month closure for repair. [...] This is the public hearing that’s been missing on the future of the Johnson Street Bridge, the largest ever infrastructure project in Victoria’s history. How will you vote—and WHY? Come & speak your mind! Ask questions of our panel [...] On November 20, Victoria residents will elect a new councillor, and vote on borrowing $49.2 million to replace the Johnson Street Bridge – the biggest infrastructure project in the city’s history. How would our new councillor deal with the bridge, and its effects upon city finances? [...] A small selection of the emails received over the past few days. Public engagement does not end with the August 10th feedback deadline – the Mayor and pro-replacement Councillors still must convince a majority of voters to support borrowing an historical amount of money in the November referendum. [...] Anyone confused yet? Council plans to decide on August 12th for a $77 or $80 million replacement or rehabilitation of the Blue Bridge – that is what has been sent out to the public for survey feedback. Or they could choose to include rail, which most councillors want, but which jacks up the cost to $89 million for replacement and $103 million for rehabilitation – that without any guarantee of regional funding. The timeline is tight as a borrowing bylaw must be set by August 20th in time for a planned referendum in late November. [...] |
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