Mayor shares vision for Broadway corridor with public
Posted March 10, 2013 10:13 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A packed house at St. James Community Centre in Vancouver Sunday afternoon, as the mayor and his Vision Vancouver team made their case for a new subway for the Broadway corridor.
Some people voiced concerns about the $3-billion dollar cost of boring a tunnel from Commercial Drive to UBC.
And others still remember how the Canada Line’s construction led to lawsuits.
“Look what happened on Cambie. It destroyed businesses. You’re going to destroy Broadway for what? To put up 17-storey buildings on Broadway? Bad idea,” said one man.
“Along Cambie before the Olympics a lot of businesses were forced to close. So if there is some kind of money provided to businesses to help with rents or taxes, that would be great,” said another.
It was a sentiment shared by Mike Klaasen with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
“We know what happened over at Canada Line. It had a high impact on small business. The good news is that we heard from the mayor today that they don’t want a repeat of that experience.”
Councillor Geoff Meggs says this time around, all of the construction would be underground.
“We will have to go underground to avoid disrupting those businesses. It can’t be a cut-and-cover operation. Light Rapid Transit, which some neighbourhoods like, would be disruptive forever by taking up road space.”
The cost doesn’t necessarily turn people off. “If this is going to be a good thing for the city and for the corridor then that’s fine,” said one woman.
