UPGRADES Dos and don

Top Vancouver realtor describes the situation as ’embarrassing,’ but says ‘I think it’s just a cost of being busy’

Chad Skelton
Sun

Realtor Bob Rennie, known by many as Vancouver‘s “condo king,” may have to get used to another nickname: the prince of parking tickets.

Using parking-violation data for the past five years, The Vancouver Sun compiled a list of the 10 most-ticketed licence plates in the city.

Nine of those plates belong to commercial vehicles such as armoured cars and parcel-delivery trucks, which often find themselves dinged for stopping where they shouldn’t.

Only one of the 10 is a personal vehicle: Bob Rennie’s luxury car.

Since Jan. 1, 2004, Rennie has racked up 204 parking tickets.

Almost all of the tickets are for sitting at an expired meter and more than a third were received in the block where Rennie’s office is located.

In fact, 37 of the tickets were written at the exact same meter: the one right in front of Rennie’s office.

“It’s embarrassing,” Rennie conceded. “But I think it’s just a cost of being busy.”

Rennie said he doesn’t even drive the ticketed car to work that often.

He said he couldn’t recall how much he paid for it (the retail price is upwards of $150,000).

Rennie said that on the rare days he drives the car to work, he finds it convenient to park right by his office and usually pays by phone for the first couple of hours.

But then he gets busy with meetings or phone calls and forgets to plug the meter.

City records show Rennie has paid all his tickets and he says he never gives the parking officers who ticket him a hard time.

“The guys are doing their jobs,” he said. “I don’t get upset when I get a ticket.”

Rennie refused to say exactly how much he has spent on parking tickets — other than it’s “too much” — but, assuming he paid each ticket within 34 days, the total bill is somewhere in the neighbourhood of $6,000.

Rennie’s not convinced he has spent that much more on tickets than he would have if he’d parked in a downtown lot.

“If you just broke it down in business terms, if I kept a parking spot in a Triple A location, in Wall Centre or at Bentall Centre, it would far exceed — or be equal to — the sporadic tickets,” he said. “And [you have] the convenience of parking exactly where you want.”

Nonetheless, Rennie said he’ll be more careful about his parking in the future.

“I think that I should just start dialing up that number and paying for the parking,” he said, then added jokingly: “[Or] maybe I should negotiate with the city and see if I can buy that meter.”

The parking-violation data obtained by The Sun included the licence plate number, and make, for every ticketed vehicle, but not the owner’s name.

Aside from Rennie — who The Sun was able to track down because he drives an unusual vehicle and was ticketed so close to his office — the identity of most of the other worst parkers remains a mystery.

However, court records reviewed by The Sun reveal that the absolute worst parker on the list — with 446 tickets in all — is an armoured car owned by Brink’s Canada.

Those same court records show Brink’s owns two other vehicles in the Top 20, with 184 and 161 tickets.

No. 3 on the list, with 344 tickets, just happened to be ticketed by parking officer Steve Goldie when a Sun reporter and photographer were tagging along on his Robson rush-hour route.

It, too, is a Brink’s armoured car.

Brink’s Canada refused to comment for this story.

Like the owners of the other vehicles in the top 10, records show Brink’s has paid most of its tickets.

Given the company’s history with parking tickets, that’s not surprising.

In 2005, Brinks got into hot water when it went to Vancouver traffic court on 99 separate tickets received by its armoured vehicles.

The company admitted it committed the violations, but argued it should get a 50-per-cent break on the fines, noting that in other cities, such as Toronto, armoured cars are exempt from parking rules.

“Well, that is Toronto,” justice of the peace Zahid Makhdoom said in his judgment. “We don’t live in Toronto, we live in Vancouver.”

Makhdoom noted that while he was inclined to give a break to people who appeared in his court with one or two violations, he had little sympathy for a company with nearly 100 tickets.

“Brink’s Canada is not engaged in some sort of altruistic pursuit such as a ‘meals on wheels’ program. They are not delivering food from a soup kitchen to some infirm person’s home. … They are transferring money from point A to B for profit,” Makhdoom said.

“In my respectful view, when a for-profit corporation knowingly breaks the law and then uses the judicial system to get away from it while clogging the court system, [it] must be subjected to a reasonable penalty.”

Rather than giving the company a break, Makhdoom decided to increase the fines, to $75 for each meter offence and $200 for each other ticket.

In total, the company was on the hook for up to $19,000.

Makhdoom also warned the company not to appear before him again, saying if it showed up a second time with a “stack of tickets” like that, he would consider imposing the maximum penalty for each one: $2,000.

Parking Secret No. 8: Night owls can rest easy. The first shift of parking officers starts at 6:15 a.m. and the last clocks off at 10:30 p.m. There are some exceptions for special events, but for the most part there is little to no parking enforcement overnight. However, this could change: a report has gone to city council proposing a new shift that would run until 2 a.m.

Parking Secret No. 9: A five-minute grace period exists in most no-parking areas, such as permit zones and commercial loading areas, so you’re allowed to stop briefly to pick someone up or drop them off. That also means a parking officer has to observe you sitting in such a spot for at least five minutes before writing you a ticket. Be warned, though: no such grace period exists for areas where you’re not allowed to stop at all — like rush-hour routes or bus zones — or for spots with a meter.

Parking Secret No. 10: All parking meters are not created equal. Downtown, where there are dedicated meter-checking foot patrols, the typical meter is usually checked by a parking officer at least once every two hours. In contrast, the meters along Commercial Drive and in Kerrisdale don’t have dedicated foot patrols and so may be checked as little as once a day.

Parking Secret No. 11: If you’re going to park illegally, don’t put on your four-way flashers. It provides no legal protection and just draws attention to your offence. “What it says to me is: I know it’s illegal, but I’m only doing it for awhile,” said parking officer Sherry Wevill.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Freedom of Information Act data help Sun steer readers away from problems

CHAD SKELTON
Sun

It’s Friday evening and you’re picking up some takeout food from your favourite restaurant on Commercial Drive.

You pull into a space right in front and wonder: Should I plug the meter?

After all, you’re only going to be a few minutes, 10 tops.

But is it worth risking a $ 60 ticket just to save a few cents?

If only there was some way of finding out what your chances are of getting a ticket. Now there is. Over the next three days, The Vancouver Sun will let you in on the secrets of parking in our increasingly crowded city.

Through the Freedom of Information Act, The Sun has obtained a computer database of every parking ticket written in the City of Vancouver since 2004: 1.6 million tickets in all.

Using that data, The Sun has been able to pinpoint which city blocks you’re most likely to get a ticket on and — with minute-by-minute precision — what times of day parking officers are at their busiest.

We’ll let you in on some tricks of the parking game, such as which days of the year there aren’t any parking officers on duty at all and why checking your tires for chalk isn’t a foolproof strategy.

And we’ll get to the truth of some of the urban myths of parking enforcement, such as whether parking officers have a daily ticket quota they have to fill and whether you can get a discount on your parking fines by going to court.

Beginning today, The Sun is also launching a series of online tools — at vancouversun. com/ parking/ — where you can get even more information about what parking enforcement is up to in your neighbourhood.

The site includes an interactive map, where you can see — block by block — where parking officers write the most tickets and an online database of all 1.6 million tickets that you can search yours elf by street address or licence plate number.

Over the coming days you’ll also meet:
The parking officer who takes his job so seriously he writes twice as many tickets a day as some of his colleagues.

The people who fight their parking tickets in court and the judicial justices of the peace who decide whether or not to give them a break.

The famous Vancouver businessman who has racked up more than 200 parking tickets, many of them at the meter right in front of his office.

The database obtained by The Sun includes only municipal parking offences, such as expired meters, stopping in nostopping zones or parking in a residential spot without a permit.

Fines received in off-street parking lots — whether owned by the city or a private company — are not included.

So what about that meter on Commercial Drive?

The city’s parking enforcement unit acknowledges that meters in “ isolated” locations such as Commercial Drive or Kerrisdale are checked far less frequently than those in the downtown core.

That’s because while there are dedicated foot patrols checking meters downtown, those along Commercial are the responsibility of officers in cars covering a much larger area.

So while a downtown meter might get passed by a parking officer every couple of hours, some meters on Commercial are checked as rarely as once a day.

As a result, while a busy downtown block might see up to 20 expired-meter tickets a week, a typical block on Commercial has just two or three.

Parking at an unpaid meter is always a gamble, of course.

But your odds are a lot better on Commercial than downtown.

Where and when you’re most likely to get ticketed, based on a review of 1.6 million parking tickets issued in Vancouver since 2004

Elizabeth Rogers
Other

Did you register for the national Do Not Call List (DNCL)? Thousands of people who did are now questioning whether they did the right thing.

Since its official debut on September 30, Canadians have registered more than 5.8 million phone and fax numbers — for their home, business and cell phone — all in an effort to cut down on those annoying telemarketing calls. The service promised both a reduction in calls (with some exceptions, of course) and a way to report and punish companies who broke the rules.

However, if you’ve been watching the news lately, you already know that not everyone is happy about the DNCL. Thousands of people have complained that they’ve seen an increase in calls since they registered. Even before major news services such as Global TV and CTV ran stories on the problems, many publications who announced the arrival of the DNCL received comments from their audience criticizing the service. The gist of the reports and feedback: The DNCL is working for some, but failing miserably for others.

So what’s going on?

The Good

Has the DNCL list made things better for Canadians? Yes, according to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) who’s in charge of the service and enforcing it. In recent media reports, representatives from the CRTC called the service a “success” and note that the organization has received plenty of positive feedback from Canadians saying they’ve seen a decrease in calls.

But what about those increases in calls? The CRTC points out that they may not have anything to do with the DNCL. Phone numbers can be accessed from other sources — like 411.ca or when legitimate companies share or sell their marketing lists.

For now, it’s business as usual and the CRTC is investigating over 500 complaints. A representative told Global TV that it’s working with telemarketers to ensure they’re complying with the rules. The CRTC doesn’t have any plans to make changes, and instead recommends that people continue to report callers who are breaking the rules.

The Bad

Right from the beginning critics of the service were sceptical. The many exemptions — like researchers, political parties and charities — meant that people won’t get the break they’re hoping for. The list wasn’t going to stop scammers (who have no qualms about breaking the law to begin with), or people using automatic diallers or “robocalling“. Furthermore, U.S. and offshore companies don’t have to comply with the rules because the CRTC can’t do anything about non-Canadian companies.

Still the promise of a reduction of calls was enough to convince millions of Canadians to register their numbers. Unfortunately, many of those registrants now find themselves worse off than before. There are a couple of loopholes companies are taking advantage of: Some are posing as exempt companies from the DNCL by pretending to be a market researcher or “your” credit card company. Others use a legal technique call “phone number spoofing” — where a generic phone number like 000-000-0000 or 123-456-7890 is programmed to show up in your call display — to hide their number. They’ll hide details like their company information, or simply hang up when asked for specifics. As a result, people on the receiving end of the calls can’t always report them to the CRTC.

In addition, many people who registered their cell phones as a precautionary measure are now finding they’ve started getting calls.

And there’s a more serious problem: Virtually anyone can access the list. Global TV’s Jackson Proskow proved all it takes in a little time, some false information and a nominal fee to get access to people’s phone numbers. Unscrupulous companies can easily obtain a list of Canadian numbers that are guaranteed to be in service. In the U.S., companies are required to provide an Employer Identification Number or the owner’s Social Insurance Number to get access, but similar information is not required by the CRTC.

In short, the “Do Not Call List” has become the “Do Not Hesitate to Call List”, according University of Ottawa to law professor Dr. Michael Geist. He’s been a critic of the DNCL from the beginning, and even set up his own service, iOptOut.ca, to address some of the gaps. His service was formally recognized by the CRTC who announced that companies will have to honour requests coming from iOptOut.

Geist, as well as many consumer protection and advocacy groups, are calling for changes to the list — like tighter controls on who can access it, better monitoring of how the list is being used (or misused), cooperation with the U.S. to overcome cross border issues, and more power for the CRTC to enforce penalties. Some countries such as Australia are able to prosecute not just the companies who make the calls but anyone who helps them obtain the numbers. The CRTC’s complaints process appears to cover the telemarketers only, not the people who aid and abet them.

And the ugly…

Unfortunately, the issues don’t end there. Dale Goldhawk, a well-known Canadian broadcaster who focuses on consumer issues — did a little more digging after a deluge of complaints to his call-in radio show,Goldhawk Fights Back. His research turned up more concerns for Canadians. For instance, according to his source the list has been shared or sold to at least two companies in the U.S. and one in India, and the recipients are free to call you because Canadian law doesn’t apply.

And it’s more than just phone numbers that are at risk. One company in Quebec has paired the DNCL numbers with data from other places to create a master list — including a map function with satellite images. Telemarketers can check a certain area and see names, numbers and addresses, and zoom in on specific houses to look for indicators of economic status — like how big your house is and if you have a pool. While this database does indicate which phone numbers are “do not call”, it won’t stop companies from contacting you through legitimate tactics like sending junk mail or salesperson to your door.

For the full details, see Goldhawk’s article, Do not call service full of problems.

What’s next?

Overall, the take home message for consumers seems to be the DNCL may decrease calls (from law-abiding telemarketers at least), but don’t be in a hurry to sign up. Wait for the problems to get fixed so you won’t potentially get an influx of calls from people who are willing to bend or break the rules.

If you’re already on the list, consumer groups warn that your information is already out there. That may be the reason why no one is explicitly advising consumers to take their numbers off the list (yet). While the DNCL is updated regularly, it might not be a good idea to indicate to companies who already have your number that it is now okay to call you.

What to do if you get an unwanted call

If you want to do more than simply hang up on disruptive callers, you should:

– Get as much information as you can so you can report the company. You’ll need the company’s name and phone number (if you can get it), and you’ll have to give your own phone number and the date and time of the call. Complaints have to be filed within two weeks, and can be made online here or call 1-866-580-DNCL (1-866-580-3625).

– If you think the call is a scam or some kind of illegal activity, report it to Phonebusters by calling 1-888-495-8501 (see the organization’s website for fax and email information).

– If you want to de-register your number you’ll have to call the CRTC at 1-866-580-DNCL (1-866-580-3625) from the phone you with to de-list (this can’t be done online).

Copyright © 2009 All Rights Reserved – ZoomerMedia Limited.

Foolish spending

Province

How very nice — we’re going to spend $365 million on a facility that most residents of B.C. have never been to or even seen. We all helped build B.C. Place in the ’80s. Now we are going into debt to refurbish a place that most of us couldn’t even find with a map and a flashlight. On the other hand, the Whitecaps are not allowed to build a facility at their own expense.

Don Brewer, Yarrow

© Copyright (c) The Province

INFRASTRUCTURE: Falcon heading to Ottawa to seal deal on parts of $14b building boost

JOHN BERMINGHAM
Province

The shovels are ready, but it’s still unclear where and when thousands of B.C. workers will be digging holes for stimulus bucks.

Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon flies to Ottawa this week to meet with federal counterpart John Baird and get his signature on a number of infrastructure projects.

“I really want to finalize federal sign-off on a huge range of projects that will create a significant amount of employment, and long-term opportunity,” Falcon told The Province on Friday.

The projects are in rapid transit, buses and highway improvements, he said. The pair will also discuss the proposed SkyTrain Evergreen Line, where a federal-provincial funding deal may only be a couple of weeks off.

Both governments have promised to cost-share $2 billion for B.C. infrastructure projects over the next three years, as part of an overall $14-billion provincial building plan creating 88,000 jobs.

Falcon said the projects could start anywhere from several months’ time to the end of the year.

Last week, Premier Gordon Campbell told the Vancouver Board of Trade he also wants to build schools, hospitals and seniors’ housing. “We won’t just create jobs, we’ll create real value for taxpayers,” he said. “Our job is to get those jobs happening now.”

Campbell said $600-million worth of projects will be under way within 90 days, and the full $2 billion working by July next year, equating to 12,800 new building jobs.

B.C. municipalities are currently waiting to hear if their project “wish lists” will get funding. Metro Vancouver alone has submitted 160 “shovel-ready” schemes, boiled down to five with the highest priority.

They include $20 million for social housing upgrades, and $110 million to improve drinking water quality from the Coquitlam Reservoir.

MV chair and Delta Mayor Lois Jackson said she doesn’t know how many projects are ready to go.

“I am concerned about them being shovel-ready,” she said, adding that her staff are “scrambling” to put everything in place so the projects can start immediately.

“I’m really hopeful the big-five projects can be funded,” she added.
Jackson wants the money to be shared around municipalities, the projects promptly started and money to get into people’s pockets.

“Make sure the dollars are going to stimulate,” she said. “We don’t have time to muck around. We’ve got to get this economy kick-started before it goes in the tank. As soon as the money’s there, let’s go.”

Money is already moving out to communities. Last week, B.C. and the feds announced $110 million for 41 infrastructure projects. The money dates back to last July, when $272 million was announced for clean water, waste management and flood mitigation for small B.C. communities.

Government officials would not give The Province a list of the funded projects, saying they would be announced one by one, over the next few months.

One of the first two projects getting funding has already come under fire from the NDP: A $14-million upgrade of the waste-water treatment plant in Kamloops, the local riding of Community Development Minister Kevin Krueger.

Falcon said there will also be stimulus money for NDP ridings.

“I think our record speaks for itself,” said Falcon, referring to investments in the Cariboo and Prince Rupert, NDP ridings that have received government funds. “We don’t play that game.”

Last Thursday’s announcement of $1.7 million for sewage treatment in Fort St. John, creating 25 jobs, was met with kind words from local Tory MP Jay Hill and local MLA-turnedSen. Richard Neufeld.

However, NDP finance critic Bruce Ralston said only $2 billion of the $14-billion stimulus plan is new money, and half of that is federal.

“As a stimulus, it’s not big,” he said. “I hope it’s going to be enough.”

Ralston said he figures the Liberals will be handing out stimulus dollars around B.C. from now until the provincial election in May.

“It’s pretty unabashed politicking,” he said. “The premier will be there to cut ribbons and pose for photos, right up to May 12.”

Transformation to unique complex has price tag of more than $10 million

John Mackie
Sun

The first thing Bob Rennie wants you to know about his restoration of the oldest building in Chinatown is that it isn’t a condo development, it’s an office and art gallery.

“If it was condominiums it would just get all confused by the community that it’s a real estate deal,” says Rennie, arguably the most successful realtor in Vancouver history.

“It’s a crime of passion. We want a house for the art, and this is where we’re going to put it.”

He could have added “cost be damned,” because his restoration of the 1889 Wing Sang building has proven incredibly expensive.

He doesn’t want to give an exact figure, but admits the project is “100 per cent over budget.” Asked if it’s a $10-million project, he smiles and says “it’s over that.”

Still, he doesn’t seem overly distraught. In fact, he’s quite excited about his four-year transformation of one of Vancouver‘s most historic structures into something unique.

The Wing Sang property at 51 East Pender is two structures, a three-storey building in front and a six-storey building in back. The front building was built by Chinatown patriarch Yip Sang for his import-export business, the Wing Sang Co. Originally two storeys, a third was added in 1901. In 1912, Yip added a six-storey building in back, where he housed his large family — four wives and 23 children.

Together the buildings have 27,000 square feet of space. Rennie plans to use 6,000 sq. ft. in the front as offices, and allocate the rest to his art gallery. It will feature items from his large art collection, but won’t be accessible by the public — it’s a private gallery.

The project should be finished by the fall. It promises to be a dramatic space. The main floor in the front building will have high ceilings, about 14 feet. But that’s small potatoes compared to the art gallery in the back building, where several floors are being removed.

When construction is finished, it will be a four-storey space — 40 feet.

There will be an adjacent space with a 20-foot ceiling in the front building where films and videos will be shown, as well as a rooftop sculpture garden.

“You can park a car on that roof,” says Rennie, 52.

“One of the sculptures is two tons, [so it was rebuilt] to take the weight.”

Rennie is a serious art collector, with works from internationally known contemporary artists like Britain‘s Thomas Houseago (who did the two-ton sculpture), Germany‘s Anselm Kiefer and Vancouver’s own Rodney Graham, Ian Wallace and Brian Jungen.

“There’s about 40 artists we have in extreme depth,” he notes.

“There’s different parts of the collection that have to do with identity and prejudice, there’s a painting collection, there’s sculpture.”

His restoration is a work of art in itself. The architect for the project is Walter Francl, and the heritage consultant is Robert Lemon, but the vision is Rennie’s.

The two buildings are red brick, with wood frames. The front building was in relatively good shape, but the back building had been vacant since the mid-’70s, and was a mess. Pigeons had been roosting there for decades, leaving behind a foot of droppings.

“They had a team with hazmat suits [go in],” says Rennie. “It was unbelievable. We put a rat trap in every room.”

It took a few months, but eventually they cleaned it up. But there was another problem with the back building: because it hadn’t been heated in decades, the brick was in rough shape.

They installed temporary bracing, then poured shotcrete inside the original brick walls to support the structure. With 20/20 hindsight, Rennie says it would have been cheaper to tear down the back building, build a new one, then put a brick facade over top. (The back building was condemned when he bought it.)

He offset some of the costs by selling off $4,850,000 in heritage density bonuses to the Jameson House development downtown. But the cost was far higher than the money he received.

He shrugs. “But it’s done now, that’s all water under the bridge.”

The ground floor of the front building will be occupied by Rennie and Associates, the retail wing of the Rennie empire (it does condo resales). Rennie Marketing, which deals with new condo developments, will be on the second floor. Rennie’s own office will be on the third floor.

“I’ve never had an office before,” he says with a laugh.

“I share a round boardroom table with four other people. I do not have a computer. Yet. I’m going to get one. I do everything on a BlackBerry, and Kevin who runs the office enters everything. But I’m going to have an office.”

The heritage gem of the project is the boardroom on the third floor. It was a schoolroom for Yip Sang’s children, and is virtually unchanged since it was built in 1901, with beadboard wainscotting on the walls and ceiling and a large blackboard with ancient writing.

“[Yip Sang’s son] Henry said those are bowling scores from 70 years ago,” marvels Rennie.

“Through all of the controversy, all the vacancies, it seems everybody’s always had a respect for this room. The writing stayed, nobody abused it.”

The rest of the building has been more or less stripped down to the bare walls and rebuilt, but the schoolroom is being saved as is. They aren’t even going to paint it.

“We decided to just scrub it and clean it,” says Rennie. “Put in contemporary furniture, and just let it live the life it has.”

There used to be an alley between the front and back buildings, but it has been covered by a glass roof. The ground floor of the back building is parking, so visitors will walk up some stairs to the gallery, which will have an arched entrance 24 feet high.

The roof should be quite cool. Birch trees will be planted along the east side, and poppy plants on the west and north, a reference to the opium trade that flourished in Chinatown before it became illegal in 1908. Yip Sang, in fact, imported opium into the building. (Yip’s main job was working with the Canadian Pacific Railway — he brought thousands of Chinese workers into Canada to build the CPR.)

There will be one piece of art the public will be able to see — a 75-foot-long neon sign by Britain‘s Martin Creed that will be placed along the top of the back building.

“It says ‘Everything is going to be all right,’ ” Rennie says.

“It has a lot of meanings, looking at the challenges in the area and the challenges in the economy. You’ll see that in the Olympic Village.”

Rennie is well aware Creed’s statement may provoke some controversy, given its location near the long-troubled Downtown Eastside. But the life-long Vancouverite purposely bought in the neighbourhood rather than downtown, because “I wanted to be part of the new vision for the Downtown Eastside.”

The first building he tried to purchase was the old Blue Eagle restaurant on East Hastings. It wasn’t available, so he bought the Wing Sang building for $1 million. It was a quick deal — he was told he could buy it if he put the money up that day, so he did, without ever setting foot inside.

He’s an interesting fellow. The day we met, he was trying to get hold of Premier Gordon Campbell’s cell number so he could talk to him about the Olympic Village site, where Rennie is selling the condos.

A few minutes later, a street person came up and asked if Rennie could charge his cell phone in his car lighter.

Rennie obliged, and talked to the guy about his life on the streets for about 10 minutes. Then he gave him back his charged phone, along with a $5 bill “to go get some lunch.”

Rennie has no interest in moving the down-and-out from the area.

“My goal is to balance the street, with the fortunate and less fortunate walking together,” he says.

“If you’re moving into this area, you’re buying into diversity.”

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

St. Paul’s staff urge premier to save the hospital

Jack Keating
Province

St. Paul’s Hospital will be “critically damaged” by the provincial government’s proposed options to “dismantle” it, says the hospital’s medical staff.

In a letter to Premier Gordon Campbell, staff raise serious concerns about the government’s intentions for the historic facility in downtown Vancouver.

Signed by the hospital’s staff executive, including president Dr. Dara Behroozi, the letter says the health ministry is contemplating changes that would “critically damage St. Paul’s Hospital’s key provincial programs and the hospital’s international reputation as a centre of research, teaching and care excellence.”

The letter obtained by The Province says staff “are united in our urgency and determination to ensure St. Paul’s Hospital is not dismantled.”

The executive “urgently requests” that the premier gives “assurance” that the hospital “will not be dismantled and its key provincial programs such as cardio-pulmonary and renal programs will not be moved to other organizations in whole or in part.”

The letter, dated Jan. 30, states that the hospital executive is ready to make the case that St. Paul’s “can best serve the needs of all British Columbians through strengthening the hospital’s programs, not by cutting them out and distributing them to other hospitals or health authorities.”

Health Minister George Abbott has received a copy of the letter, but neither he nor the premier have responded.

“I appreciate that members of the medical staff have concerns at St. Paul’s,” said Abbott, adding that it needs upgrades.

“Portions of it have been on that site now for over 100 years, so it is a facility which in the years ahead clearly will require either huge remediation, which may or may not be possible physically on that site, or replacement,” said Abbott.

He pointed out that the St. Paul’s Foundation has acquired property at Station and Prior Streets “so [moving] is a possibility as well.”

NDP health critic Adrian Dix said the Campbell government is trying to delay any decision on St. Paul’s until after the May 12 election.

“In 2002 the provincial government promised to upgrade St. Paul’s and they haven’t acted on it,” said Dix.

“And since then they’ve broken that promise.”

© Copyright (c) The Province

It will soon work here, but with so many un-named streets, it

How to fact-check your significant maybe

Ethan Baron
Province