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Archive of posts tagged public service

be part of ‘my’ plan…

this post was bound to happen sometimes, and since it’s been delayed by quite a bit i’m going to be throwing more than just one subject in it.

the first subject for today’s post is the newly opened ‘canada line’, yes the massive over priced, poorly managed 2 billion costing sky train line that links richmond to vancouver…and let’s not forget…the first rapid transit from a canadian international airport to the respective downtown core. so if by now you didn’t pick up on it…i’m not very happy about the project. don’t get me wrong, i think a rapid transit line should been build 10 years ago. it’s not the idea i have a problem with…is how they went about doing it. translink has not only over-spent, but managed to ensure their salaries got bigger and bigger. and what did the public get? well…they got a campaign with the motto ‘be part of the plan’. the only options one has when offering their useless opinion (useless since translink won’t take it into account) is whether to increase one form of tax over the other. there are essentially five options…either increase transit far (why not), increase taxation either on gasoline, car insurance, land taxation…or other forms of taxation. they offer no insight on how their decisions are made, no insight on how they chose who to contract for work being done…but once every year they essentially ask for more money. on the day the line opened…there were shows and freebies given out at each station…our drunken leader made sure he self-promoted his white smile over the news on that day as if he managed to bring something unique to vancouver. the speach included reference to this being the only line of its type in canada (the airport to downtown part)…well that might be the case…but vancouver as we know it wants to compare itself with the major metropolitan cities of the world. and in that comparison, well they’re at the bottom of the list. all major european cities have some sort of rapid public transportation to and from their airport…which are cheaper and some of which include free wi-fi. now that being said, other news were given to the public on the same day…only this one was not so publicly stated and more or less hidden.

our premier decided to share the news that healthcare is looking at a reduced budget for next year of roughly $60 million. yes, the news was first provided to the public on the same day as the crappy line took on its first rider. this was followed yesterday by the full report…in which the most important sectors of our society are facing budgetary cuts. that implies the school system and healthcare. however, most of the throne speech yesterday was to defend the ‘hst’ tax (if you don’t know what it is…then google is your friend). i may be slow, but i missed where any of the things on the agenda from yesterday are helping the not so ‘rich’ part of society. more tax, less money to public services…and well let’s face it…the poorer will stay poorer, but with less public service.

all the promises that fooled bc-ers into voting liberal a few months back are not only not being followed, we’re getting the opposite. hold on a second…isn’t that what happened the first two times around? even the americans got it right after during their third try…how is it that bc-ers don’t. the cycle continues, the rich will stay richer…the hst will help business (which by all means has been on the agenda every single time drunken gordo got the power) and essentially squeeze even more money out of the working lower classes. so congratulations to those who voted, congratulations to the ndp leader who can’t seem to figure out she can’t win an election and congratulations for the drunken leader who managed to fool everyone yet again. at this point one does wonder on the iq level of the voting population…

another one down

i recently had the pleasure to enjoy a bus ride and with it the usual morning news blitz…yes, i am referring to a quick peak in the 24h. this occurred last friday, and the story that caught my eye was in regards to a change within the entertainment side of things of boring old vancouver. as some of you may have heard, richard’s on richards is closing down its doors…it’s one the cities oldest clubs and quite frankly one of the biggest (size wise). anyhow, i can’t ever say i had a great time when i went there…however, the venue itself did sometimes impress. the layout and the size were acceptable when it came to a night club. comparing this particular venue with the latests sardine cans night clubs, that seem to pop-up like mushrooms after the rain, in vancouver…it is sad to see it close down. it seems there’s a trend in vancouver lately…and the competition is on to see who opens up the smallest club (yes i’m including the ‘trendy’ lounges in this)…with the lamest top40 playlist. based on their size, these newest venues would make the hong kong architects cringe with envy.

richard’s on richards closed down to make way to further development in the downtown core…the now proud owners of the vancouver canucks are responsible for this. it seems that’s what we need downtown…more people living there. the city already has a reputation of boring…after all everything closes at 3am (or 2am depending on your area of entertainment)…and this is due as to not disturb the community to much with the noise…would it make more sense to keep the venues open till 5-6am (if not longer?). anyhow…instead of renovating the older places (as they are old, boring and the interiors have deteriorated) they are closing them down. yes, i’m aware that this particular club is relocating…but is it even worth it? plaza for one is getting renovated, and while i haven’t visited yet, the outside is still horrible. no change in signs and there’s hardly any space in front of the club due to the construction going on.

with the olympics knocking on the door…this city is looking to ensure these will be the olympics without decent entertainment. the downtown core is simply boring, there’s nothing going on that would attract attention. every venue you visit is virtually the same…same lame playlists, just randomly selected. the live band venues have at least that going for them…live music. granville street is immersed in dust…making it extremely hard to get around. however, this could be a great opportunity to create an entertainment district…think about it…close down the entire strip. no cars allowed, plan trees and add large patios. split the patios with the different venues…create the walk only zone…and allow the people to have a place to hang out. make it the strip to be in downtown. olympics or no olympics, this could potentially be built as a top-notch entertainment district. add the speakers outside, let the djs play their tunes…have the covered patios (retractable roofs of course)…and add the heaters, thus make it usable in the winter time as well. it’s hard enough to drive on the granville strip when it’s open, so why not just close it down. make it so that people want to be there…let them have a good time…and besides the profits the city would draw from it…i’m pretty certain it would also cut down on the ‘violence’ associated with the night life in downtown vancouver. so, don’t stop the music…but make it better…

must wash hands

during yesterday’s coffee break, i stopped at a starbucks in vancouver to have the morning ‘fix’. while i was sipping away…i had to take a short trip and ‘check-out’ the facilities at the location. the first thing that jumped at me was the sign ‘employees must wash their hands’. first thing i thought about was something along the lines…’great…but have you told them how to do it properly?’.

make my way to wash my hands, and i noticed the short ‘how-to-wash-your-hands’ picture-gram (and as soon as i get a chance i’ll post a picture of it). in short, the diagram itself was made up for five pictures showing different stages of the washing procedure. as you can imagine, i was quite pleased that the instructions were there, they were clear and had subtitles to each picture in order to explain what to do. first you wet your hands and then you get soap. then you wash your hands with soap for 20 seconds, and after you rinse them. you take paper towels after and turn off the water with the paper towel (as to not contaminate yourself from the dirty handle…thumbs up for this to starbucks).

seeing this brought a few questions. i do wonder if other training was offered to employees besides the posted information (which does most often get ignored). the second thought was…i wonder why they did not put a picture to tell the employee to use the paper towel to open the door when getting out of the bathroom…afterall there are some who do not wash they hands and will have to use the door handle to get out. so…for the same reason as to why one should use a towel to turn off the running water in the sink…one should use the paper towel to open the door when coming out (thus one would also require a garbage basket at or near the door). and the third thing (and this is probably nit-picking) is…to my knowledge one should wash one’s hands with soap form 30 to 60 seconds (given different sources). perhaps i am being picky on this…but at least they have these up there.

overall, i am quite pleased to at least see information about this posted. yes, most employees tend to ignore signs, but at least efforts are being made. i hope that training went along with the information, but if not there’s still time. and while i wonder why the employees bathroom is common with the public bathroom at starbucks (most likely due to space constraints)…it’s comforting knowing they took the time to instruct about washing procedures, unlike others.