COMMENTS

THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT SUBJECT !
 Would you agree to telling your Friends about this ? ... http://harveyavenuekelownabc.blogspot.com
 I am doing this in an effort to unite DownTown Kelowna in it's development. This would give Harvey Avenue back to the Citizens of Kelowna and let the Staff at City Hall have control of what happens on Harvey Avenue, Bernard Avenue, the old High School block and the 4 block development overlooking the City Park. Kelowna  needs it's people to vote on November 19. It is really necessary.  One present councilor said it only took 11% of the voters to put him/her on council three years ago.

Kim Frances Ouellette  for Mayor,
Good morning Barry, thank you for the chance to hear a different view on not going with a second bridge, and how a express way for Kelowna would benefit us not only in costs, also in making our downtown run more efficient.
I have talked to random people on the street, mall restaurants in what they think of a express way, the consensus is they would go for the express way,

1) money was already spent on 97 to up grade it.

2) it would mean less congestion to get to downtown.

3) If it could be architectural beautiful,
Not a cement eye sore.

4) They would vote for an express way

I have directed them to your website to see a possible design.

Best regards
Kim
..
http://www.facebook.com/KelownaHarveyAvenue

http://harveyavenuekelownabc.blogspot.com/

Hi Barry,
Peter McFadden commented on your link.  (For Councilor)
Peter wrote: "I have gone to your site and it certainly is an elegant solution to beautify the downtown area. I have seen this concept used in numerous cities in the world with great results. I do not have the background information on why the original plan did not include an overpass. However, I imagine there was inter-government issues and funding issues. If this plan were economically feasible I would be very positive towards it."

Hi Barry,
Simon Shaw commented on your link.   (For Councilor )
Simon wrote: "Sorry, I'm just not a fan of raised highways but I will support this if it is the best way to solve Harvey Avenue problems ."
We have the expectation that Simon will support John Woodworth's Concept as Simon wants to get rid of the HOV lanes. He now understands that Kelowna needs to be able to make these changes. That can only happen when we return the control of Harvey to our Kelowna City Hall Staff.
As I said, Simon will be converted! Simon has set up a poll you really should look at. You will see at the bottom of this page, how to get to his information.

To those of you who are asking questions about giving Harvey Avenue back to the citizens of Kelowna, here is some info that is a quote of what former highways Minister Kevin Falcon emailed me:
      "I realize that you have put a lot of thought into your ideas for an elevated highway. If you would like to discuss this matter further, I would encourage you to bring these ideas to the attention of city officials. If the City of Kelowna were to take a renewed interest in an elevated highway  we would certainly be willing to explore this further. It's important to remember the City is responsible for its own traffic-management plans. At the provincial level, our concern is more for the smooth operation of Highway 97 and the linkages to the new bridge".
                    and:
        "If and when an alternate route or bypass, elevated or not, is constructed in the future, it would certainly facilitate turning the existing corridor over to the City, as you suggest. We all have a vested interest in making Kelowna a more livable city where traffic can move safely and efficiently".

Is this clear enough?  What do you think about this statement? Who needs to do what in order to release Harvey Avenue from the control of Victoria?  I for one am not as concerned about the price as it will be dramatically less than the alternative. Rather, look forward to the awesome benefits of having this Avenue as part of our City ... part of the reall need to include Harvey in the development and improvements being discussed re.  Bernard Ave, 4 block down town area, Old High School Block and Harvey Avenue ... all put together and designed at the same time.
E Barry Patterson
What would you like to do with Harvey Avenue?

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  Beth Myers

  
  

  For over 25 years, (more) I've always thought there should be another passage route to either go around the city with off ramps, OR be built over top of existing Highway as a through-fare with ramps, and the local traffic could still use the existing highway underneath. I'm visualizing high congestion areas and their roadways in San Francisco or Los Angles. Yes it's costly, but Kelowna is NOT going to drop in population, and north and south bound traffic still has to go through Kelowna. Speak to any heavy duty truck driver, and he will tell you Kelowna is one of the worst laid out cities to travel through. I've been upset with traffic congestion for years, and widening the road and adding more traffic lights, just doesn't get it! I like what Vernon did, early on, when they had the land, making an alternate route bypassing all the traffic lights and congestion. Imagine, other cities all over, so much smarter than Kelowna, and thinking ahead! All questionaires I've received about city issues, I've always named traffic and congestion as being a number one priority. The questionaire had other issues to reply to, such as building high story buildings, how we should increase parks in the area, build housing closer or farther away from the city...etc...I'm tired of avoiding a very serious situation. Engineers get busy with some specs!

  
  

  
  

  http://www.facebook.com/KelownaHarveyAvenue

By Adrian Nieoczym
Kelowna Mayor Sharon Shepherd had a question for Mike Harcourt: “What is your vision for Highway 97?” she asked the former B.C. premier, who had just wrapped up his keynote address at the 2009 FortisBC PowerSense Conservation Excellence awards at the Delta Grand this afternoon.
A wave of nervous laughter rippled through the room of about 50 attendees before Harcourt replied, “I don’t want to insult anybody, but I use it as an example of how NOT to do something.
“But it can be changed. I see Highway 97 having a bus rapid transit from the university through to Westbank every 10 minutes and then connecting to a whole series of high-frequency buses, both regular buses and suburban buses in and around Kelowna,” he said.
As for the Harvey Avenue section of the highway that cuts through Kelowna, Harcourt suggests replacing many of the parking lots currently dotting the roadside with 10- to 12-storey apartment buildings.
“Create a better alternative to having to get in the car and drive,” he said.
One of the keys to a sustainable future, according to Harcourt, is to build denser communities where people live close to where they work, shop and recreate and where they can use alternative forms of transportation to get around. “Redevelop, re-landscape, make it an attractive place.”
He went on to say that eventually some sort of bypass will have to be built to divert highway traffic.
“Get people who are going through off of Harvey Avenue and just sort of chill out inner-city Kelowna and then have another four, five, 10 , 20,000 people,” he said. “Have people living downtown.”
These days Harcourt is the associate director of the UBC Continuing Studies Centre for Sustainability and chairs QUEST, a group dedicated to improving Canada’s urban energy systems. He spends a lot of his time speaking about the need to change how we live.
“I’m a recovering politician and a preacher,” he joked.
In his speech, Harcourt said most people get it now. “We can’t keep going  the way we have been going because if we consume the way that we’ve been consuming, we’d need four earths.”

"So, we had the balanced council - but now they want an all-corporate-shill council? Neat.

I love Kelowna - the resort, tourist, lakefront, fruited plain, boutique, city with a heart. We are =not= starved for growth - there has been billions upon billions in investment - and we were just named the MOST business-friendly city in BC - under the leadership of Mayor Sharon Shepherd and a council balanced between all-developer councilors, and pro-Kelowna councilors. Do we really want to lose that and become a hole for developers to exploit and abandon?

Are we shocked that the once-local TV station that now takes marching orders from Fox/CTV/Global aligned itself with Nick Frost's "slate"? I know some of these people - as individuals they are good and decent citizens - but they have been bundled into one writhing mass of anti-social all-corporate negativity, divisiveness and hatefulness. Such a slate does not represent my values, nor the values of anyone I respect or love. Kelowna is far better than that.

Being aligned in dark purpose, against Kelowna, and strongly against the people of Kelowna, the "slate" now represents foreign speculators, their clearly demonstrated mission to pave paradise and sell off our public assets, and to hack away and destroy the protective regulations and laws that have thus far defended us (Kelowna) from their sponsors' onslaught of development and ghetto-creation.

I herewith openly declare that every member of Nick Frost's and CTV/FoxNews/Globals' little slate are out of consideration by me, for any public office. I will not now nor in the future ever vote for those who claim we have too many citizen protections and too many public parks.

That beautiful photo above, and our Simpson bequest Covenant lands, and City Park are not for sale and we will not let them be paved.
Cedar Park is not wasted on the citizens, and would Not be better used as a revenue property for private corporate investors 

WE the people of Kelowna, PAID to aggregate that land - with a specific mission to keep it PARK land. And that drives the Frost/Gray/Blanleil slate blind with hatred and rage, because they wanted it turned over to their buddies. Sorry, fellas. Not if people who love Kelowna have anything to say about it.

Our beaches are not private properties and we will not stand idly by and let them be turned into giant mudholes for the next 20 years, taken away from our children, stolen from the future, ripped from the taxpayers who paid for them - just to line the greedy pockets of speculators who do NOT live here and have NO stake in our quality of life!

We will not pave Kelowna, and open up huge open-pit mud holes along our waterfront for the next 20 years.

We will stop the FoxNews-SilkCastanet "slate" of candidates because we are not as apathetic or hateful as CHBC & Castanet & their minions in media seem to think.

We love Kelowna more than they hate it. Let's save Kelowna - tell your friends the 9 names who assert that their parks should be given away, their city ghetto-ized by unrestrained and de-regulated development, and that the protections and laws that have given us our wonderful quality of life in Kelowna need to be removed. Tax cuts and deregulation ruined the U.S. and world economies - yet THAT is what these candidates are campaigning on?"

  COURTESY  Gregory Trustee Krasichynsky

The candidates that are listed in my blog have kindly allowed me to post their names showing they “like” giving back Harvey Avenue to Kelowna Citizens.

Barry

I added a poll to my website on this issue... I must admit, I am surprised by the response, I would have thought less people would like the idea of raised highways. Please come to my site and vote, thanks!

http://simonshaw.ca/polls.asp

If you have an idea for a poll, please let me know.

Simon Shaw
Vote Simon Shaw for Kelowna City Councillor on November 19th, 2011.
www.simonshaw.ca | simon@simonshaw.ca

SimonShaw

Posts: 49

Joined: Sep 23rd, '11, 15:22

Location: Kelowna