Corrigan still doesn’t get it – he’s fighting a losing battle
Derek Corrigan, mayor of Burnaby, can’t get over the fact that Richmond was chosen over Burnaby in placing the speedskating rink. Richmond put in a superior bid in all respects. Corrigan claims that politics was behind the decision, but it’s clear that anybody looking at the merits of the proposal would choose Richmond – both cheaper and better.
Politically, however, Corrigan is on very shaky ground – he’s lost a lot of credibility over the past few months concerning his action against the RAV line and now he’s claiming that the 2010 Olympics are going to be a disaster just because they didn’t locate the speed skating facility in Simon Fraser University campus. He’s at odds with Doug McAllum (Mayor of Surrey), which means that he’s at odds with the current provincial government. In other words, it’s doubtful that Burnaby is going to get any provincial support in the next 5 years, assuming that the BC Liberals get elected again in May of 2005. 2005 is also when the next municipal election takes place.
Overall, this is a huge net positive for Richmond. My only concern as a resident is that traffic is going to be horrible in the area that they’re proposing the build the facility. It currently borders River Road, which is a two lane roadway. There is no road access from the Vancouver side of Richmond to River Road to get to the facility – they’re going to have to build a proper interchange on the south side of the No.2 road bridge and probably expand River Road. This will be interesting, as there is currently not a lot of room to do this since the dyke is in the way.
The other factor is funding – the city of Richmond is funding a significant portion of the facility construction costs. This revenue is apparently derived from the new casino that was built, River Rock Casino. I remember the decision was made by Richmond council to build the casino despite significant public opposition. On one hand, it’s good to see revenues derived from River Rock going towards a significant piece of infrastructure, but on the other hand, couldn’t the city reduce property taxes instead of blowing it all on a skating rink?
hey sach… stumbled onto the ho’s site and then onto yours and found this entry which i also totally agree with and also hate corrigan for his arrogance. just also wanted to comment on the casino richmond built. its really really nice and the people i see gambling there are people with money to burn. granted there are people in there who should not be gambling, but the problems with gambling are the same with smoking, alcohol and drugs. all things that in a more perfect world probably wouldnt be there because they tend to cause lots of social problems, but they are things we deal with because this is supposed to make us ‘more liberal’. i guess its just nice to get some attention to the lower mainland from the fed’s, and also some attention directed at richmond from the rest of the province.