MetroCascade Victoria

The issue that could most pressingly affect Victoria residents and taxpayers is currently playing out online, on local Victoria blogs and forums. I’m refering to the strange efforts of the City of Victoria Council to move forward with replacing the Johnson Street Bridge. There has been very little (if any) coverage from the print media. I posted about it on MetroCascade’s blog on Aug.6/09 – see Off and away on the Johnson Street Bridge.

Although plenty of other blog posts have come up on MetroCascade in the interim – posts that readers might find amusing, informative, and entertaining – but for now, MetroCascade is going to continue publicizing the Johnson Street Bridge issue.

Full disclosure (again): I am one of three people involved with founding the JohnsonStreetBridge DOT org site (I like to write it out that way, to emphasize the .org url). The other two are Mat Wright and Ross Crockford.

Here’s how the city’s scheme is resonating on the blogs: On August 7, Bernard von Schulmann picked up on a 1999 newspaper article (first referenced on the Vibrant Victoria forum here, with a specific post here). The article (written by Jeff Bell and published in the Times-Colonist on Apr.3/99) describes a million dollar repair of the bridge, which was supposed to ensure that the bridge would last for decades to come. Yet a mere 10 years later, the City is telling taxpayers that the bridge needs to be replaced. Bernard writes, “I wonder what happened to the work done in 1999 and if we can get our money back since the promises seem not to have been met?” Good question.

This point was echoed as well by Mike K. on Vibrant Victoria’s blog, 1999 Johnson Street Bridge refit meant to last several decades. Mike writes:

“Victoria’s Johnson Street Bridge underwent a $1,000,000 refit in 1999 that the city’s transportation department claimed would give the historic bridge ‘several more decades of useful life,’ according to a Times Colonist article dated April 03, 1999.

“Just ten years in, the Johnson Street Bridge replacement project is the most pressing issue in the City of Victoria, taking a surprising lead ahead of council’s 2008 election to-do list drafted to highlight the City’s pressing issues like homelessness, affordability and downtown crime.”

Also on Aug.8/09, Gregory Hartnell (who has repeatedly posted on this issue already) blogged CROCKFORD, HEIBEL AND WRIGHT DEFEND THE JOHNSON STREET BRIDGE: New 4 page letter asks Victoria City Council to save it + open up public consultation process. His post draws attention to the letter we delivered to Council and Mayor on Tuesday Aug.4 and the subsequent media activity that ensued when Ross Crockford was interviewed on CBC’s On the Island and CFAX1070’s newsline. See our Johnson Street Bridge blog for more details.

To read the letter in question, click here (the link takes you to the letter, posted on the JohnsonStreetBridge DOT org site.)

On Aug.9/09, Mat posted a blog entry on JohnsonStreetBridge, Link Love – Johnson Street Bridge asking for help in driving up awareness about the issue. It’s staggering how few people have any idea about what the city is planning or why.

On the topic of communication, I encourage everyone to read Mat’s blog post on The Great Firewall – City of Victoria BC. It’s from Aug.6/09 and asks why are our city’s webpages so user-unfriendly, why do mayor and council hide behind a phalanx of gatekeepers that make direct access by voters next to impossible,and why has the city not yet addressed one of its key election platforms, namely to strive for greater transparency at City Hall? Instead the City is offering residents a printed newsletter three times a year – a veritable slap in the face in the age of digital media. At the same time, the City of Victoria has seven full time communications specialists (aka PR flaks). Mat’s post is a must-read – go check it out.

And if all those words are getting you down, check out Benjamin Madison’s excellent photos of the Johnson Street Bridge, here and here and here and here.