Tag Archives: transit

Catalyst Repeating The Lies That Worked

Your Worship and City Council,

The Catalyst process has learned that most people are not in favour of a downtown arena. The report is public, and easily found. Yet we heard some media like CTV Regina report deceptively that a so-called “majority” in the Regina Chamber of Commerce wants it downtown. Fewer than 7% of its members replied to their member-only survey, in favour. Some of 6% is not a majority, in case I need to spell it out.

Surprise! Priority #4 is listed as a downtown arena. The fix is in. CTV, along with whoever is telling them to frame it as a majority in support, are not going to stop when we bring facts to the table. They’ve got the audience to try and change minds, but the people have the truth. Their job, apparently, is to change the truth.

I realize my presentation to you today won’t change your votes, but I want others who hear it to realize that taxes are going way up thanks to this latest stadium swindle. We’re still paying off the last new stadium for more than another decade. In our rapidly changing world with global catastrophes, we couldn’t even make use of it for over a year at the start of the pandemic. I’d argue it shouldn’t be used exactly how it is now, facilitating outbreaks of deadly disease even as responsible journalists reveal the cover-up of super-spreader events.

Instead of repairing the Agridome/Brandt Centre, and improving transportation to the facility, you’ll try to send millions more dollars to our construction industry for another arena we don’t need and most people don’t want. Old City Hall lasted only 55 years in Regina. The present one is already 47 years old. Will it be replaced by 2030, going by our need to tear down functional 50 year old buildings? How’s the roof coming for Mosaic Stadium, by the way? We apparently have more money for policing and yet another event building, but not enough to provide safe housing for vulnerable people as the provincial government lets us all down.

The next insulting sequencing priority for the Project? A trail to join the districts in the downtown core. Why is that insulting? Because it was part of the original Regina Revitalization Initiative, and was not built despite it being listed on the RRI website for years during construction of roof-ready Mosaic Stadium II. That deception, along with claims that Taylor Field would become a site for affordable housing and possibly even groceries, is why residents of Regina can’t trust City Council or City Hall to honour the projects it puts forward in black and white.

CBC reported on Mar. 14, 2019 that by 2023 Regina would have ~30km of new bike infrastructure. The result was about 10 times less than that much. An independent researcher found Regina lags behind other western Canadian capital cities with fewer bike lanes per capita, and per square km too. The amount must be doubled to even catch up. Take one scintilla of the money and effort wasted on the Catalyst Project, and catch the heck up.

Sincerely,

John Klein

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City Budget

I hesitate to make this presentation to Council, with some budget requests. I have no confidence they’ll be reasonably considered by most people able to vote on them. Still, anyone else listening may enjoy hearing that someone else in their community sees shortfalls we could easily address with some important changes. That’s why we’re all here, to get what’s best for our city.

I sent a single question to Council’s Catalyst Committee, when only 7 people were following the website, and I didn’t get a response for days. What I eventually got was disheartening. They first sent a form letter telling me to fill in a survey. I asked my question again, and they finally responded:

Your distrust in the Catalyst Committee consultation process is recognized, respected, and will be shared with the Catalyst Committee.

Regards,

City of Regina

No one from the Catalyst Committee bothered to contact me to defend their integrity when challenged. I can only imagine why. A decade after the Regina Revitalization Initiative, there are vacant lots at Capital Point / The Plains Hotel (Wow), The Yards (which won a sustainability award from FCM), and even the trees are gone from the site of Taylor Field where only a fence remains to keep away roving bands of wild drivers seeking to park their cars.

I’ll make only 3 points, even though there are far more areas that need big funding.

  1. Housing first – Council wanted to know what it would cost to end homelessness in our community, since that has to be done. Why is it not still the highest priority to get everyone a safe place to sleep and live in our harsh climate? Saskatchewan and Regina are spending thousands of dollars more per person to police, imprison, or treat in hospital all sorts of people who just need a small, safe place to live. There are abandoned houses throughout the city, on a completely related matter.
  2. Water safety – We have asbestos and lead water pipes throughout our community, and neither is safe to leave in place for long. This is the kind of project that can’t wait, the problem doesn’t go away unless the city’s population moves away.
  3. Active Transportation – Regina is spending a tiny fraction of what Edmonton is budgeting for a safe and vibrant cycling network. Your “Cross-town” bike lanes don’t go across the entirety of Regina even when completed several years from now. You’re connecting less than 1km/year to the outdated patchwork of bike lanes. What’s being done is not sufficient to meet the “Big Moves” of the Sustainability Framework you all passed.
    Over 2 years ago here’s what a member of Council said: “If we want people to get on their bikes, we have to have the infrastructure. I hope there will be attention paid to gaps in the city.”

You can do 2 of my suggestions without raising property taxes, or giving me any credit when you do them. Please ask me how.

–Don’t widen Arcola Ave. E.

My trust is damaged from Council’s inability to implement the crucial Sustainability Framework. The City Admin is telling Council to implement a plan at least 6 years old, instead of looking to the future with a Framework passed this year.

–Stop permitting sprawl, against the Official Community Plan infill target of 30%.

-Defund the Regina Police Service. You’ll have millions more dollars to work with. They can maintain effective policing with important and clever changes. Fewer gas burning SUVs, for example, would save millions of dollars.

John Klein’s presentation to Council by phone

How Would You Fix Arcola Ave. for $42,300,000 or Less?

City Council unanimously approved a plan to spend more than $42 Million on making traffic on Arcola Ave. worse. Yes, you heard me, worse. That wasn’t their intention, but Councillor Stadnichuk brought up the problem, and still voted with the pack to make the mistake.

“Direct Administration to bring a supplementary report to City Council
during the 2023-2024 budget consideration, that will include the following:
a) The financial implications to capital planning of the redistribution of
$42.3 million from long to medium term project planning to
expedite the expansion process for the Arcola Avenue corridor”

The City will consider the potential financial implications of building more infrastructure for specifically privately owned, single-occupant motor vehicles, but wasn’t directed by Council to consider the sustainability implications. That’s likely because it violates the Energy and Sustainability Framework’s “Big Moves” related to transportation.

“b) The potential financial implications of adjusting the SAF model to
account for increased costs due to expedition of this project.”

“While the Framework provides an ambitious community-wide plan that will require sustained effort from all sectors of the community, the City of Regina will play a leadership role in modelling the changes and behaviours that are required to reach our goals through advocacy, partnership, awareness/education and direct action in the municipal operation.”

If we’re not addressing transportation with sustainability in mind, why’d we pass the Energy and Sustainability Framework? The Council’s “ambitious community-wide plan” couldn’t even be sustained until even their very next two ~$100M transportation decisions. They took over a hundred million from Transit to build a pool facility, now they’ve assigned nearly that much again to expanding freeways and turning lanes for car drivers with nothing for cyclists or pedestrians or transit users.

My trust is damaged from Council’s inability to implement the crucial Framework. The City Admin is telling Council to implement a plan at least 6 years old, instead of looking to the future with a Framework passed this year.

Here’s an insight by Councillor Bresciani that I hope she takes to heart with her ability to first spend millions on improving transportation infrastructure for either people on bikes, or people in single-occupant motor vehicles who are costing the city more than we can sustain.

The City’s website asks, “Who’s Listening“. Here’s who, with contact info:

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Speed limits for Arcola were changed a few years ago, and had no apparent impact on the number of collisions because the number is still far more than 0 every week.

Most Of a Million Dollars

The province is wasting more money on a single-owner vehicle parking structure at General Hospital in Regina, when it could buy a bus for the cost of the the cursory dig and the project’s budget for 2022:

“The excavation is also not anticipated to strain the project’s allocated $750,000 budget for this year, as surveys were included in the planning.”

There’s a shuttle that travels between health facilities in Regina, stopping at parking lots, but the ridership is restricted to Sask Health Authority employees. If Regina Transit was offering the service instead, everyone going to or visiting the hospital would be able to ride it. Our city would get better transit, and the province wouldn’t be spending any additional money. And we could probably have the hospital there without constructing another stranded asset, which is what a parkade is when built during a climate crisis.