We get the picture. The province is siding with Coquitlam in its fight to expand traffic options from Coquitlam to New Westminster. Coquitlam wanted a two-lane bridge linking United Boulevard with Braid Street. New West didn't. New Westminster, in fact, would prefer a drawbridge with a moat.
Transportation minister Todd Stone is finally fed up with the impasse (which is going to arbitration next week) and tells New West in a letter that its options are limited and issues it an ultimatum. Accept a second crossing over the Brunette River for Coquitlam, or buy your own bridge. Clearly Stone thought New Westminster would either fold like a cheap tent - or broken Bailey bridge - or the offer would interfere with the arbitration. He sorely underestimated our wee kingdom.
We are simply fed up with people running roughshod through our streets and simply clogging our roads. Traffic from United Boulevard is but one leak in our road defense system - but it's one too many. So, what to do?
Buy our own bridge. Of course that will cost taxpayers and we'll also probably be stuck with maintenance, but it will be ours, dammit! Now, perhaps, this was Stone's plan all along - thereby saving the province the cost.
However, we doubt it. The province seldom seems concerned about highway costs, and this would be a very minor one. No, we think Stone is tired of dealing with New Westminster's apparently self-centred view on the traffic situation in the Lower Mainland.
And so, it appears, are our neighbours. City council's plan for the Pattullo Bridge, which it paraded before neighbouring city councils, was met with little support - and, in some cases, downright negativity. Why, other politicians asked, does New Westminster think it should be spared the traffic that other municipalities endure? They sort of have a point.
But every city tries to maintain a liveable environment for its residents - that is not only its right, but duty.
