DEAR EDITOR:
Re: Will TransLink come back and ask for more, Our View, The Record, Oct. 12
As a person who lives and works in New Westminster, I applaud Mayor Wright for having the integrity to vote against raising taxes to pay for the Evergreen Line.
To be clear, I am a public transit user and I support increasing Metro Vancouver's transit options, however, it has become increasingly evident that TransLink is a 'broken' organization and throwing more tax dollars at them is a short-term solution that will cost us even more in the end. Burnaby's Mayor Derek Corrigan was correct when he declared that TransLink was a beast that would never be satisfied.
TransLink continuously asks for more funding while accruing unsustainable debt levels that would make the American government blush.
Transportation commissioner Martin Crilly's report earlier this month demonstrated that TransLink is not adequately planning to keep up with population growth and will likely be short on projected revenues which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
The B.C. Liberals threw out the democratically elected TransLink board and replaced it with appointed officials who have shown time and time again that they are not concerned with long term planning or with ensuring that the transit system offers affordable transit options on a sustainable basis. Mayor Wright was on the losing side of the vote but at least he can hold his head high.
Shayne Robinson, New Westminster
