KICKSTART COMMUNICATIONS (604) 872-4638
SPEAKER’S
LIST – NEIGHBOURS FOR FAIR TRANSIT
Susan Kurbis – Cut Habitat (Environmental Youth
Alliance) Ph: 689-4463
Kurbis has been working for 6 years on preserving the Grandview
Cut. She lives in the False
Creek Flats. She feels very strongly that the environment is
always being compromised in
East Vancouver and is very aware of the trend to disregard the
needs of the lower income
community here and their need for green space. She wants the
public to understand that the
Cut is also the only wildlife corridor in East Vancouver and is
vital in that it provides habitat
and fresh water for many animals and birds in the city. Kurbis is
afraid that the Cut will be
“demolished” to make way for the new SkyTrain Millenium
line.
Hilary Ann Scott – Resident
Scott owns a house near the Grandview Cut on 7th Avenue. She is
worried about the
property value of her house taking a nose dive when the new line
is constructed. She is also
concerned about the environment, the noise, the enormous cost in
dollars and in changes to
her lifestyle. She walks her dog through the Cut quite often and
doesn’t know if she’ll be
able to do that again once construction begins.
Cassandra Freeman – Resident
Freeman moved into an apartment metres away from the Grandview
Cut about six weeks
ago. The new line will be about 25 feet from her bedroom window.
The reason she moved
into the neighbourhood is because of the 80-foot trees on the
south slope that make the
perfect view for a writer, like herself. Most of these trees will
likely be cut down in order for
the new line to go up. Freeman is angry that the needs of
residents of the Grandview Cut
have been ignored once again. Soon there will be 5 trains running
past her building: the
existing SkyTrains, the railway train and the new Skytrains
running in both directions.
Deming Smith – SkyTrain Politics/S.P.E.C. -736-7732
Deming Smith is the board member who looks at transportation
issues for the
Society for the Promotion of Environmental Conservation. He also
works as a
Transportation consultant. Smith has been fighting the Millenium
line for
the last two years which has meant fighting the province every
step of the
way.
During this time S.P.E.C. has been part of a coalition called
"Coalition for
Skytrain Review" formed with a number of other lower
mainland environmental,
neighbourhood, transit and advocacy groups. SPEC is opposing the
line because
it strongly supports more and better public transit for the
region and believes further
SkyTrain construction will accomplish exactly the opposite. SPEC
believes that the project
is grossly overpriced technology which is draining public
resources away from more
effective and urgently needed public transit improvements. SPEC
has long called for a full
and independent environmental assessment. This would confirm that
the SkyTrain extension
will do virtually nothing to increase transit usage, improve
regional airquality or reduce
traffic congestion.