L E T     'E R      R I P !!!!

Truck drivers "Drag racing" up and down the so called bypass. I guess it doesn't really matter because you have to stop at every light along the way anyway. But use a little courtesy and let some of the faster traffic move on.

Any day above ground is a good day.

True enough sportsman

Any day the Canucks are undefeated, preseason or not, is a good day!

The most important part of the two dates on your tombstone is the dash in the middle. Make good use of it.

What about if I spit a cherry seed out the window? Is that littering? I'm just wondering because well its a biodegradable question. Is it all right to chuck out a banana peel... A) in the ditch on the side of the highway, or B) on the boulevard fertilizing the flower garden... ditto for a bread crust that the crows are flying around looking for. We heard a few weeks back that it is not good to throw out cigarette buts (and I agree fully with that line of thinking), but who wants a moldy peach seed on the seat next to them while driving around town looking for a none existent garbage can.

I wonder if this is an election issue? Should we have a bi-law against people that spit cherry seeds, sun flower seeds, and peach seeds out the window as well as throwing things like apple cores, orange peels, and banana peels within the city or regional district (lol)? Or should we have a movement to locate more garbage cans around the city on city side walks and in city parks and require the city workers to empty the said cans on a periodic basis?

I think thats a big civic issue that I'd like to hear more about from all the stakeholders involved.

Acrider thats a good one. I agree. Its dangerous too changing lanes on the bi-pass. Pick a lane and stick to it I say. If your going straight through to BCR then stay left and if you're going west stay right. If you end up side by side then thats sometimes unfortunate for others. But using the other lane just to pass on the bi-pass isn't the safest thing to be doing in a truck. During rush hour traffic I've had to wait for as many as three light changes to get through one intersection, and stopping at every one along the way as well, so thats why some guys are tempted to double up at the lights during the day. One car can back all of central street up at 22nd during rush hour, and since its on a hair trigger only one truck can get through at a time before it turns red again. Thats the roots of the problem IMO.

Well Eagle, me being the rocket scientist that I am. I have discovered that if I have a garbage bag inside my car and use it instead of tossing anything out my window while driving I don't need to be driving around looking for other garbage cans. Also figured that it's a waste of my money. ;)

Hey you in the Black Jeep that lives on Princeton Cres in College Heights.
Turn your stereo down before driving around our neighbourhood, you're pissin off your neighbours.

Well, where do you park your car then lostfaith?

I see that the brains in charge have placed concrete barriers down the bypass highway, is that to keep the sleepy and dopey drivers from veering into oncoming traffic? Or are they there to prevent illegal left turns or u turns? I can foresee a potential problem at eighth ave. where there has always been a lot of pedestrian traffic crossing the bypass. The barriers are going to prove difficult to get over quickly for some folks (but they will still try) which one way or another will lead to more people in the middle of the road. How about that, after dark, and when the road is icy? If someone gets killed there I bet the brains will discover the concept of a pedestrian overpass.
metalman.

Shoppers Drug Mart Pricing-Spruceland:
Life Brand 4mg, 110 piece nicotine gum. Price July 31, 2008-$29.99; Price September 25, 2008-$35.99. This represents a price increase of 20% in less than 2 months. I have receipts to support these prices. It seems that even as an exsmoker you are being taken advantage of by the pharmacies that want to keep the price of nicotine as high was possible. Is it a way to compensate for the points system and voucher giveaways?
I wrote a letter to the owner of SDM-Spruceland over a week ago but to date I have received no reply.
The bottom line: I quit the nicotine gum and Shoppers Drug Mart-Spruceland, lost a long time customer.

Honestjoe - Good on ya! Seems like a ridiculous price increase, though I'm sure there are conspiracy theorists out there who would wonder if big tobacco had their hands in the stop-smoking aid industry as well. I hope you get a response, and that you find the product cheaper elsewhere.

Municipalities may have received a reprieve from the carbon tax, but expect property tax rates to go up. The carbon tax will still drive up the cost of everything transported, tolls or no tolls.

If you want to help get rid of this tax, please sign the Canadian Taxpayers Federation's petition at:

http://www.nocarbontaxes.com

Metalman... you think daring pedestrians are having trouble with the road barriers ???

What about us rabbitts ??? It's quite a jump to clear the barrier... and timing is everything... watch the traffic with one eye while calculating the jump and watching for predators with the other eye... not easy, you know !!

But.... at least we don't have to look over our shoulders for those idiots with Daisy air guns and Daytons ... like our cousins in Kelowna... "Bunny Killing Capitol of Canada"...

:-)

V.

Hey giterdun;

You commented that... "The most important part of the two dates on your tombstone is the dash in the middle. Make good use of it."

Great advice indeed... for those of you who don't know what he meant by it then copy & paste this web address into your browser (or google it) and watch this short movie.

http://www.thedashmovie.com/

Enjoy!

NTG

Or click here to go there now...

http://www.thedashmovie.com/

Enjoy!

NTG

On the subject of taxes going up because of operating costs for City equipment, I wunder if they really needed new Dodge pickups with HEMI'S??? What about the new dump trucks they bought with 18 speed auto-shift transmissions? 18-speeds are are built for highway trucks up to 63,000Kg. G.V.W. the less expensive 9-speeds are designed for "In-town" service. It's not so much the extra cost of the hemi-powered pickups, but the fuel mileage is terrible, same with the 18-speed. Who does the shopping for equipment they certainly haven't done much research, or made any comparisons. Sales people must love to see our purchasing agents come around.

Dangerous Goods and ring roads. The City wants to spend 48 million on another connector between Highway 16 and 97. They tell us that this would be part of a future dangerous goods route Is it worth the money?

So lets look at a couple of cities that have ring roads. Edmonton has a road going north south on each side Whitemud on the west side and #14 on the east side and both feed into a major highway on the north and south ends of the city. Those routes may have changed as the city has grown.

Now Calgary has the Deer Foot on the East side and the Sarcee Trail on the West side and again both join on the north and south ends to major highways and again that configuration has change because of city grows but they are rough examples of their bypass routs or ring road if you will.

Both of those cities had populations of more then 500 thousand when these roads were completed.

On the other hand Kelowna has a main highway passing through the main commercial section and this has now been enhanced by adding a brand new four lane bridge across the Lake. Last count the population was around 120 thousand.

So why are we going to spend 48 million on another piece of road from 16 to 97 highway? It would run parallel to the Old cariboo highway that is about one kilometer away. Why was that airport industrial site developed in the first place at that location? It should have been located where it could of been accessed off an existing road like the Old Cariboo Highway or say Johnson road?

The fact is that City Council is grasping a straws for more tax dollars and they don’t seem to care how much they have to increase our taxes to provide infrastructure for new development and the old going to the dogs.

Awhile back they were obsessed with container loading at the CN yard and now it’s the airport. What’s next? Are we going to Portland to see if we have asmany bridges across the Nechako as they have across the Willamette River?

Cheers

Gettinbye, Good point. Wonders never cease.

See Basserman willl br runing for Council. Thats even worse news.

Cheers

Don't be shocked if Gordon Campbell calls an early election. Everything is pointing that way. There is no doubt with his past lies and deceit that this will probably occur. He will take a page out of Steven Harpers book and make up an excuse as to why a fixed date doesn't have to be honored. (Harpers excuse was that his federally fixed date did not apply to a minority government.) Gordie's will be that it doesn't apply to G. Campbell.
The rational is that why else would he be whipping around the province making big announcements. One case in point is the Toll Booth's on the Coqu. A momentary decision to garner votes at the BC Municipal convention, without the prior notice to workers or anyone else. He has also commissioned over 15 million dollars in signs across BC describing his proposed projects over the next years. Don't be surprised folks when you go to the polls Provincially in January or early February.

I Hear ya, Bridge,
We gotta write Horizon Air a cheque first though so we'll have a more direct flight to Portland.....

I don't understand people sometimes. Case in point: Tolls on the Coquihalla.

A few years ago, people were screaming for these tolls to be taken off this highway because at the time the highway was constructed, th govenrment of the time said that the tolls would only be on the highway until it was paid for. The tolls collected on the highway since then have more than paid for the road and people were wanting government to keep its promise.

Fast forward to today and the tolls are coming off the highway. People for some reason don't like that decision either. Can someone explain this?

My stepmom went to the Dr. while sick a few years ago and was told to quit smoking or else. The scare made her quit smoking cold turkey and she hasn't gone back. That encouraged my dad to quit.
All you smokers go out there and get scared then the price of anything smoking related won't concern you especially the dash on your tombstone.

p.s. Where is owl these days?

Heidi... I was wondering that too... maybe got declared as an endagered species... maybe the government provided relocation to a less dangerous area... just in time before winter too !! :-)

V.

... "endangered"...

(Harpers excuse was that his federally fixed date did not apply to a minority government.)

That is a gross oversimplification of the facts. Do you think that the situation in parliment was tenable? Nothing was getting accomplished.

Heidi, did you not know that Owl is a Spotted Owl? the endangered species that must be quarantined in a warmer southern climate, where they have live pine trees.
;)
V. you wascally wabbitt, you should not be playing chicken with the traffic on the bypass but I guess you can clear those concrete barriers no problem with a little rocket fuel(adrenaline)
metalman.

I drove by and had a look at the confluence of the Fraser and Nechako rivers this morning.

It's very apparent the powers that be should be authorizing the gravel removal project there very quickly. The water is getting nice and low and it's very easy to see all the gravel bars that are showing. You know, the ones that are the cause of our icejam and the related flooding.

I don't think we've heard the last from Owl. I heard him on the news the other day. I bet he's planning to run for council again. I would vote for him for council because he brings a thoughtful perspective to the table and tends to listen to reason and logic for the most part.. unless were talking about arts. If he runs for mayor that would be a wild card and anything could happen, but I don't think he would stand a chance against Dan. I think the city council needs all sorts of perspectives represented and Owl's would be of value.

As for the real owl birds around PG. I can't say where, but they are far from endangered in these parts if you know where to look. I know of at least three pairs in only one part of the city. Big huge birds that stand nearly 3 feet tall. I had one fly above my moon roof (like 6-feet up) at night once as it hunted in my headlights... if I had a camera for that it would have been priceless.

Did you see that bear that went into Subway in Kitimat. Its on the Citizen Blog site.

Probably looking for a job.

lost faith, nope the city engineers and the environmentalist in the Plaza building has started their hibernation. They won't be checking out rivers now.

MrPG: "Fast forward to today and the tolls are coming off the highway. People for some reason don't like that decision either. Can someone explain this?"

Gordophobia.

"it hunted in my headlights"

Hmmm, alrighty then.

I almost wonder if the Nechako River is badly contaminated because of the length of time taken to do a study on whether or not to dredge or other options out there.

http://www.dredging.org/documents/ceda/downloads/news-environmentalaspectsofdredging-foreword.pdf

Plus the decline in fish.

http://www-heb.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/community/education/lessonplans/sturgeon_decline/downloads/sturgeon-decline_background_e.pdf

I too often go there lostfaith and walk around, take pics. I'm curious to go back when Fraser is really low again to walk around and see how it looks now.

MrPG asks for an explanation as to why people are critical of Campbell's removal of the tolls on the Coquihalla.

I have no particular insight into the matter, but I believe it is due to the contrast between his previous attempt to sell it off to private owners and therefore have permanent tolls in place, and his present position of saving citizens money.

In other words, he has shown two faces, with a message from each of them!

I would also point out that the costs were not fully covered by the tolls. The capital costs are apparently almost covered, but the interest on it is not, and there is no mention of the maintenance costs and they do not appear to have been recovered through tolls. The province is therfore absorbing a major part of the costs, which is OK by me.

This is obviously an apportunistic decision by Campbell due to an imminent election and his desire to shore up support in a part of the province that usually supposrts him. This is shown by the expensive renovations made to the toll booth area about 6 months ago. If he knew the toll booths were going at that time the renovations would not have been made, I suspect.

So, I suspect the criticism is not due to the removal of the tolls. Most people are glad of that, but rather the self-serving, opportunistic way it was presented to the public.

Now, if he would only remove the "tolls" on the ferries.

I also have no particular insight into the matter but it is obvious that it is of the utmost importance to quickly rebuild the toll booths and bring back the tolls, thereby removing the impression that the removal was self-serving and opportunistic.

Don't forget to double the tolls until any lost revenue has been recovered!

Arrrrrgh!

My undersanding was that the 'promise' was that the tolls would be removed once the capital costs of building the highway were covered.

Are people really upset about the announcement or the timing of it, and how it's perceived? I say 'who cares'?

"Now, if he would only remove the "tolls" on the ferries."

Interesting comment. I wonder how may people would be up in arms and call it an 'opportunistic' decision as well.

How many? Not too many, hopefully. There is no free lunch. Whenever tolls are removed the taxpayers (us) have to make up the inescapable monetary shortfall by paying more taxes into the highways department's coffers. The same thing would apply to lost revenue if ferry tolls were removed. No matter what method is used, it is us who pay.

Only this way one doesn't see it up front.

If tolls are so objectionable to some people why did the NDP faithfully collect ferry fares (tolls) and Coquihalla tolls instead of cancelling them asap???

I don't recall ever getting a free trip during the entire nineties.

Arrrrrrgh!

I have an weird issue. Coward Rd has the best ice cream but that man that ran it this year is very bla with absolutly no personality or people skills. The man that had been there in the past was always nice and friendly.

I spotted the owl too. He's a pretty wise bird. I think he's be great on council. The job could frustrate him to a point of losing too many feathers. Methinks he may stay the burrowing owl.

-I think Pringles original intention was to make tennis balls but on the day the rubber was supposed to show up a truckload of potatoes came. Pringles is a laid back company, so they just said "screw it, cut em up!"

-I got a king sized bed. I don't know any kings, but if one came over, I guess he'd be comfortable. "Oh, you're a king, you say? Well you won't believe what I have in store for you! It's to your exact specifications!"

In a topic on how our City is run,Owl told us that Ottawa is looking better all time.

I suspect that he is probably an advisor to Dion or maybe even Layton.

As for Campbell and the Coqu toll fee how smart do you have to be to see that an election is coming up. But if you cant see that City is peeing away 48 million in tax dollars. There is not to much that one can see.

Cheers

Just have to say it. There is nothing better sounding than opening a bottle of suds after a long day at work. Cheers!

I like the Friday free for alls. Sometimes life gets so serious and when I read about wascally rabbit hopping over the barriers and our owl remarks I get a big grin and it makes a better day. Thanks all.