A proposal popped up on the agenda of Monday’s Burnaby council meeting.
It involves and rezoning application to allow a gas station at 5737 Byrne Road in South Burnaby.
I’m sure the people behind it mean well and have put together a fine proposal, but I still think it should be rejected.
So should all other gas station proposals for Burnaby in the future. We don’t need more gas stations in our community.
If anything, we need fewer. We’re in the middle of a climate crisis and we need to do more to make it inconvenient for drivers so they will drive less and eventually ditch their vehicles.
I’m one of them. I’m ashamed to say that I still have my vehicle, which I use for work. I’m working hard to dramatically cut down on my driving and have been successful. But it’s not enough.
Yes, fireworks are bad. But what I really want to be talking about is banning gas stations. #happyhalloween #climatechangeisterrifying
— Christine Boyle (@christineeboyle) November 1, 2019
We, as a society, need to reduce our driving infrastructure, such as fewer gas stations and fewer parking spots. It’s ridiculous that new housing proposals include so many parking spaces, especially for buildings that are close to SkyTrain.
I saw one proposal in the council agenda that proposed a six-level underground parking structure. We don’t need that much parking.
While we’re at it, we need to put back the tolls on the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges and use the money for transit. We need mobility pricing on our roads with the money going towards transit and other projects to reduce emissions.
We need to save our planet.
Yeah, I know, you’re going to hate me for writing this and will send nasty anonymous emails slamming me. Go ahead, I can take it.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
