Breadcrumb Trail Links
NewsLocal NewsNationalPoliticsOpinionColumnists
‘The province has the opportunity to provide some rational thinking on this and they failed to do so,’ says Steve Allan, of the Rethink the Green Line group
Article content
They are pissed off, plain and simple.
Steve Allan and the rest of the concerned citizen group wanting the province to push for a rethink of the city’s Green Line LRT plan got the word from the UCP government late Friday.
No. No rethink.
How did they feel?
“Initially surprised. Just astounded and then anger and disappointment,” says Allan, expressing himself politely for our family readership.
Advertisement 2
Article content
“We’ve been at this for years, trying to tell the city and the province this thing is going to be a disaster.
“We now have a growing momentum of people agreeing with us. I bump into people who say: Who in their right mind could think this is a good idea?
“The province has the opportunity to provide some rational thinking on this and they failed to do so.”
And here’s the kicker.
Allan says the group had conversations with the UCP government of Premier Danielle Smith, leading the citizens to believe they were on the right track.
Recommended from Editorial
Bell: Calgary Green Line, former city transit planning boss speaks out
‘No-win situation’: Councillors defend decision to shorten Green Line
‘It really isn’t usable for us’: Residents in southeast feel snubbed by shortened Green Line
They knew Smith thought it was crazy for the Green Line to tunnel underground in the downtown.
They knew Smith liked their idea of avoiding the risks and costs of the underground route and supported running the train from city hall all the way down to Seton and the hospital in the deep southeast.
Allan talked to Smith about all of this Green Line stuff two years ago and Smith was supportive.
Article content
Advertisement 3
Article content
They were getting the definite impression there was support from the Smith government now.
They were “getting positive signals” from Smith’s people.
Smith herself said publicly she wanted the city to rethink the Green Line without the “engineering nightmare” of tunnelling downtown and facing all “the underground river systems.”
She talked about running the line to the deep southeast.
There are also questions about having the LRT go to Eau Claire.
“The city erred in making the decision to go ahead. The province can stop it and they would take a good look at it. That is the impression we had,” says Allan.
That is a no-go.
Instead, as Calgarians know, the Green Line is expected to proceed as planned from Eau Claire in the downtown to Lynnwood/Millican, not even as far south as Ogden and that’s not far south.
It’s a shrinking stub of a Green Line, a Mini-Me route, a $6-billion-plus segment of a segment of track not going to where most of the transit riders live and with no plan or money to finish the line.
The whole Green Line from the far north to the deep southeast of the city for $4.5 billion was a political fantasy of former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi long before high inflation and now it is a political mirage at any price tag.
Advertisement 4
Article content
Within the Smith government they call the Green Line “the Nenshi nightmare” and figure it must have been sketched out with a green crayon.
Now the Smith government is just happy if the city’s Green Line stub connects to the premier’s idea of a grand central station for her own commuter trains.
The province is also expected to tell us they want more oversight of the project, whatever that means. They have put in $1.5 billion and vow not to put in more dough — for this Green Line stub.
The full Green Line could cost taxpayers $20 billion or more. Allan says he believes staying the course with the city’s Green Line plan will come back and bite the province where it hurts.
“All Albertans should be outraged because the province will be bailing out the city for this disaster despite what they say now. Albertans will be paying.”
He adds the province can’t really beat up Nenshi any longer because they ditched a rethink.
How can the citizen group press on?
There are five city council members who voted against the current Green Line scheme.
Sonya Sharp, Dan McLean, Jennifer Wyness, Andre Chabot and Sean Chu.
Is there anything they can do when city council gets back to work next month?
“We look to the five to continue the fight and demand a review,” says Allan.
“They have got the support of many Calgarians.”
The battle is not over yet.
The group didn’t come this far or work this hard just to throw in the towel.
They hold on to something they say often.
It’s never too late to do the right thing.
rbell@postmedia.com
Article content
Share this article in your social network