SkyTrain in Surrey one step closer
Surrey council’s inaugural meeting Monday night was a very
different type of meeting.
While the usual formality was still part of the meeting, the
most important part of the meeting came after the formal swearing in of council members. Council held a “special
regular meeting,” where two motions were passed – one to begin the process of
changing from the RCMP to a local Surrey police force, and another to scrap LRT
in favour of SkyTrain. Both of these motions are a direct result of Mayor Doug McCallum’s
successful campaign with the Safe Surrey Coalition. A new police force and a push
for SkyTrain instead of LRT were the coalition’s two key campaign planks.
The surprise came when new Coun. Linda Annis, who was the
lone Surrey First candidate elected, sided with the other members of council to
support both motions. The other seven councillors, Brenda Locke, Mandeep Nagra, Laurie Guerra, Steve Pettigrew, Jack Hundial, Allison Patton and Doug Elford, along with McCallum all ran with
Safe Surrey Coalition. Her support for the new police force wasn’t as surprising
– Surrey First had suggested a referendum on switching to a new Surrey Police
force. Her support for SkyTrain was surprising, as Surrey First not only wanted
the initial LRT line to go ahead (funding was fully in place) but wanted LRT eventually
built all over the city.
Annis said she recognized that voters had embraced the idea
of building SkyTrain and, as a show of good will with voters and her council
colleagues, she decided to support the motion. See this video for more of her remarks.
That motion was necessary, as McCallum needs to take it to
the first Mayors’ Council meeting which will be held on Nov. 15. That body,
which partially oversees TransLink, will need to endorse Surrey’s plans to
shift funding from LRT to SkyTrain. The federal government has already said it
is on board with the shift, while the province has stayed silent thus far. Both
levels of government had agreed to foot 40 per cent of the costs of the LRT line
between Newton and Guildford.
Whether the $1.65 billion already set aside for LRT will be enough
to build SkyTrain all the way to Langley City is open to dispute. McCallum says
it can be done, in part by running some of the line at-grade and by using plans
drawn up for the Evergreen Line in Coquitlam. Langley City Coun. Nathan Pachal,
who has plenty of knowledge about transit systems, suggests the funds will be enough
to get it to Fleetwood, and further extension from there will require
additional funding from all levels of government. Former BC Liberal MLA Dave Hayer, who was at the inaugural, agreed that the current funds will likely get
SkyTrain as far as 168 Street.
For more details on the motion, see this story from Surrey Now-Leader reporter Amy Reid.
My view is that Surrey residents will be happy to see work
start on SkyTrain as soon as possible, and won’t mind too much if the entire 16.5-kilometre
line isn’t built for the amount already set aside – as long as Surrey and
TransLink work towards finishing the line to Langley City as soon as possible.
That will involve plenty of meetings with federal and provincial officials, to
get them on board to help pay for the extension of the line. It will also
involve seeking support from other members of the Mayors’ Council.
The general mood at Surrey City Hall on Monday was one of
relief – relief that the issues close to the hearts of many Surrey residents
have been recognized and acted on. Residents are fed up with the seemingly
endless gang violence and drive-by shootings, and in particular with the unsolved
murders of three innocent people in June. They were also very unhappy with the
outgoing mayor and council’s lack of meaningful consultation on LRT and seeming
deafness to resident concerns about other issues. Former mayor Linda Hepner’s
tight control of the eight other Surrey First members of council kept them from
speaking out when they should have. They paid the ultimate price – those who
chose to run again all lost their seats.
One of the happiest people at Monday’s meeting was Daryl
Dela Cruz, founder of SkyTrain for Surrey, who deserves plenty of credit for pushing
hard for SkyTrain over the past few years. He is not giving up or resting on
his laurels – his group is seeking to make a presentation to the Mayors’
Council on Nov. 15, to back up council’s call for a quick start to building
SkyTrain in Surrey.
Surrey RCMP officer in charge Dwayne McDonald was perhaps
the most disappointed person at the meeting. While he recognizes that council
has every right to move towards a new Surrey Police force, he pointed out that
the RCMP have done a good job of policing Surrey and would like to continue to
do so. Here are his comments, in a Surrey Now-Leader video.
Many members of the new council took time to thank the RCMP (several of
whom were part of the honour guard at the inaugural meeting) for their service
to Surrey. New Coun. Jack Hundial, who recently retired from Surrey RCMP as a
staff-sergeant, said the force has done a good job in policing Surrey, but is
fully supportive of moving to a new policing model.
Solicitor General Mike Farnworth, the provincial cabinet
member responsible for policing, said work will begin in on the transition, but
added that it will be a complex matter.
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