NDP – I scratch your back and you scratch mine.

By now most of us know about how the NDP operate, Taylor Bachrach has an insurance policy in place to assure he will get his gold plated pension plan. Taylor who was former mayor of Smithers, and will always be remembered for  3 things, the sidewalk to nowhere, $195,000 Portland Loo, and in  2012 replacing the Town’s old bike racks, (the origin of the nick name Mr. Bikerack) Recall the bike rack fiasco? I cannot find the actual cost, or the blunders that went hand in hand with that project, but it cost taxpayers in Smithers dearly. Going way back to that time a number of people all prominent NDP supporters found their way into the Smithers Town Council. This led to the push Taylor Bachrach started in 2012, to impose the bicycle transportation on Smithers, while bragging in one of his election platforms about his and his families love for riding bikes.

This was followed by Taylor himself doing bike promotions for the only bike shop in town who also had one or more of its employees on the town counsel. Promotions included himself riding all kinds of all kinds of strange looking bikes and or with advertisements on the side of them. Then at the Fall Fair Parade doing his unicycle promotion.

 

Please to not take this as being anti bike, I loved riding a bike and still do, what bothers me is when people use elected positions to manipulate the tax payers into funding their dreams.

 

Next I am going to share a piece written by Taylor Bachrach for the Interior News in 2015

Sharing the road means knowing (and following) the rules.

May is Bike Month in British Columbia — a chance to celebrate the humble bicycle as a healthy, efficient and fun way of getting around.

In cities and towns across North America and around the world, the bicycle is being rediscovered, not as sport, but as everyday transportation.

In dense urban areas, travelling by bike is just as fast as by car. It uses less parking, emits zero pollution and doesn’t wear out municipal infrastructure as quickly.

As more people discover the joy and freedom that comes with getting around by bike, following the basic rules of the road becomes ever more important. Bike riders who shirk this responsibility cause friction with other users of our streets and roads, which none of us wants to see.

Unfortunately, a fairly large percentage of Smithers riders still don’t follow the basic rules of traffic: stopping at stop signs, using hand signals and staying off the sidewalk. This has to change.

Likewise, folks in cars aren’t always familiar with how bikes fit into the picture. Smithers is blessed with courteous drivers who look out for bikes and pedestrians, but sometimes to a fault. Riders who are trying to behave as traffic are often waved through intersections even when the drivers clearly have the right of way.

The bottom line: we can all do better.

Transportation planners will tell you that the best way to reduce conflict between people who walk, bike and drive is to provide dedicated infrastructure for each mode. Separated bike lanes are now regarded as the gold standard of bike infrastructure. If you’ve ever ridden on one, you know they’re pretty awesome.

Here in Smithers, the Town has implemented some modest improvements to make our community more bicycle friendly.

In 2012, council created a Bike Friendly Community Task Force, which led to replacing the Town’s old bike racks, implementing a bike route along Third Avenue and extending the Fulton multi-use pathway.

However, none of the improvements to date have included fully separated infrastructure. Sharing our roadways, which we all pay for through our property taxes, will be the norm into the foreseeable future.

I think one of the best parts of living in a small town is knowing that your neighbours are looking out for you. Let’s follow the rules and look out for each other — no matter how we get around.

 

Keep in mind that at that time we had only one bike shop in town and it had a member aside from Taylor Bachrach working inside the town councel. Smithers developed what is today known as the Active Transportation Plan put together under the then mayor of Smithers in 2019, on the heals of that being completed, Taylor Bachrach, resigned from the Town Council as major Nov.3, 2019 and turned it over to Gladys Atrill.

Again do not get me wrong, having a well thought out plan is a great idea if the plan is not a ways and means to manipulate public funding.

Thanks for staying with me so far, were about to get to the crux of this affair.

Let me quote from the Smithers Active Transportation Plan

Background

The purpose of the Smithers ATP is to identify strategies that integrate accessible, multi-use, pedestrian and cycling improvements to replace CO2 generating transportation and decrease dependency on fossil fuel vehicles with active transportation alternatives.

 

This project has been funded through the Province of British Columbia Rural Dividend Program. (Meaning the provincial NDP)

So without a doubt this is all about an attack against the fossil fuel industry, and has nothing to do with the sport and pleasures of riding a bicycle. This is part of the larger “global reset” without recognizing that all our social services, medical, dental, housing, energy, and every other aspect of our lives is completely dependant on selling and managing fossil fuels. The food we eat is dependant on our fossil fuel industry, likewise the cost of beef, chicken pork, fish are all dependant on an industry that the NDP (Atrill and Bachrach included) want to shut down.

 

Key facts

• In 2023, Canada’s energy sector directly employed 285,600 people and indirectly supported over 411,400 jobs.
• Canada’s energy sector accounted for approximately 10.3% of nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2023.
• Energy exports worth $199.1 billion were sent to 123 countries, with the United States accounting for 89%. Meanwhile, Canada imported $57.9 billion of energy in 2023.
• Government revenues coming from enterprises in the energy sector averaged $19.3 billion from 2018-2022.
• Canada is the sixth largest energy producer in the world.

 

 

This brings us to where we are today.

 

“Its not always about what was said, often its what in not said that is of significant importance.”

 

Here is what Smithers Town Counsel said “Thank you to everyone who participated in the public engagement process for the Princess Street re-design! Between September 10 and October 22, 2024, we heard your opinions through direct letters, a public engagement session, and a survey. Let me show you.

 

 

Its beautiful, no argument from me, but having said that there is no mention of the aging outdated infrastructure in the ground. Or the increased property values of those living on this street, inclusive of Nathan Cullen who helped fund most of these projects like Smithers Active Transportation Plan and the $9,800,000 grant from BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. Town of Smithers Secures $500,000 Grant for Active Transportation Infrastructure.

 

“More about what they did not say, while the Smithers Town Counsel proudly waves the flag of democracy, we voted and we now have consent to move forward.”

 

 

Here is what they did not tell you, we did a screenshot so you know we are not making this stuff up.

 

 

So there you have it folks a total of 46 respondents (no evidence required to prove you live in Smithers) the last census showed Smithers has around 5,378 residents.

Fact is the manipulated numbers by the Town of Smithers that said 61% of respondents support Option 3, they fail to say that its less than .5 % (less than half a percent) of actual Smithers residents supported Option 3, or to be exact it was 0.44% of Smithers residents that supported Option 3.

In fact its more of a scam than even I had thought they would try pull off. We included a copy that verifies people do not even have to add their name, never mind if they live in Smithers. Clearly they are operating in a manner that shows they all need to be replaced. This behaviour is disgusting, we need to replace the entire Town Counsel.

 

 

Don’t you just love how socialists with an agenda can fudge the numbers?

 

Out of that 46 only 24 respondents is the grand total of support for this project, the Smithers NDP membership is even larger than that number. So we see just how Smithers Town Counsel manipulates its support for Taylor Bachrach’s dream plan. Instead of admitting that support for  this project is so incredible low, that it should not proceed, they fudged the numbers to support the NDP Agenda.

 

 

 

 

 

What I do not understand is with the currant shortage of downtown parking, and the size of parking spaces seems a better fit for Taylor Bachrach’s electric car than it does for those people who need a truck for work or the farm, its like the town no longer wants their business. They say shop local but only if you come on a bike, walk or drive an electric car.

Look at King Street and the massive jam up of cars at New-to-You, you stole most of their parking and put bike lanes in their place. You seem to think this store is for personal profit, it is not, its one of the most significant charities that help run Bulkley Valley District Hospital and you punish them by robbing them of parking space. Your obsession with bicycles is appalling, you could have left parking as it was and used sidewalks on one side for walking and the other side for bicycles, this could be done on Queen Street and the upper half of Smithers Main street as well without taking away from one group of citizens and handing it to another group, that being comprised of left wing dippers. By dippers I mean get your hands out of my wallet and pay for your own toys and playground. There are at times holes so deep in our streets that are way overdue to be repaved, look at the hill section of Queen Street, its in appalling condition.

The fact remains the amount of residents riding a bike still does not justify the expenditures this town is making, on an average summer day its mostly kids riding bikes in town, just as it was in the 60’s and 70’s and ever since then. Bachrach’s obsession is still the only reason Smithers is doing this. We can make safe cycling in Smithers, it starts with enforcing the rules, to date more than 50% of bikers blow stop signs, do not wear helmets, wear earbuds to blast music into thier ears, they can suddenly turn anywhere on the rode in front of cars and trucks, yet you make these drivers out to be the villains.

Instead of building your bike playground, create laws and apply those laws, something this town has never done.