Editorially speaking…
Coincidental to this week’s Chronicle on the Fraser River bridge tragedy of 1916, time is ticking for the iconic Pattullo Bridge linking New Westminster and Surrey. Named for B.C.’s 22nd premier, Thomas Dufferin Pattullo, it officially opened in November 15, 1937.
Its replacement is slated to open for traffic in December.
The new bridge will have its work cut out for it, the existing crossing handling an average of 75,700 cars and 3840 trucks daily (these are 2013 figures)—about 20 per cent of the cross-river traffic.
How many million vehicles have crossed the Pattullo Bridge in 89 years, do you think?—Wikipedia
To paraphrase Wikipedia: “The first regular crossing of the Fraser River started in 1882, and was operated by a steam ferry...which transported residents and livestock from Brownsville to New Westminster. During the late 1890s...the existing ferry was deemed insufficient to handle future traffic demands. The first bridge, a combined steel two deck road and rail span, started construction in 1902, with completion in 1904. The bridge [had] two decks, the upper deck handling vehicular traffic and the lower deck functioning as a railway bridge.
“Again, growing traffic demands prompted the construction of a second bridge in 1936... The Pattullo Bridge was opened to traffic on November 15, 1937, by Premier "Duff" Pattullo, with a total cost of $4 million. The bridge was...tolled at 25c per crossing [until] 1952. The old bridge, now known as the New Westminster Rail Bridge, was converted to rail use only, and highway traffic was moved to the Pattullo Bridge....”
‘Duff’ Pattullo left a mixed legacy, among the low lights of his terms in office being his steadfast opposition to citizens of Asian origin receiving the franchise. With the impending demolition of his Fraser River namesake he’ll probably lapse even further into the mists of history.
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Fabled artist Emily Carr’s House of All Sorts is in need of expensive repairs and the longtime owner is hoping that the province will relax its short-term rental legislation to permit him to charge accommodation in its four existing suites. Although it’s a provincially designated heritage property, the property hasn’t received any public funding since 1989.
It is, in fact, according to owner Peter Willis, the only privately owned provincially designated heritage property in B.C., and that both Point Ellice Houe and Barkerville, both B.C.-owned, are allowed short-term rental exemptions.
Income from those rentals would help him to maintain the historic property which Emily built in Victoria’s James Bay district in 1913 to supplement her income as a struggling artist by taking in boarders.
B.C.’s iconic artist and character Emily Carr. —Wikipedia
Besides titling one of her memoirs after the house she personalized it with, among other things, two large Thunderbirds painted on the attic ceiling.
Mr. Willis wants to remove the exterior stucco to expose the original wooden siding and replace the cedar shake roofing at an estimated cost of $700,000. He’d be able to achieve these goal on his own—if he had the income from short-term rentals.
The irony is apparent: Emily Carr built and operated this property as a boarding house. But the present owner, who’s also hamstrung by heritage designation that all but demands proper maintenance, cannot.
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