Imagine the nerve of those corporate bullies over at CP Rail. They own an 11-kilometre slice of land in one of the richest neighbourhoods in one of the most expensive real-estate markets in the world and they won't give it up for tens, possibly hundreds of millions of dollars less than it's worth so the city can build a park.
What kind of greedy tyrants run that company anyway? It's precisely that type of profit-before-common-good that is at the root of the social and economic inequality that is destroying this planet. It is precisely that type of white collar avarice that we must rise up against, that must spawn another democratic awakening, people!
Or, viewed another way, CP is simply doing what any sensible business would do in protecting its assets, looking after its shareholders and not getting fleeced by a left-leaning mayor trying to score political points in the midst of an election campaign.
We speak, of course, of the tiresome donnybrook now unfolding between CP and the City of Vancouver. For those just tuning in, CP owns a rail line on the west side of the city that hasn't been used in years. It would like to unload all, or part of it, but only for a reasonable price. The city has given the company a low-ball offer of $20-million when a conservative estimate for the land would be $100-million. Some (including CP) suggest it's worth hundreds of millions.
It certainly would be if the land were zoned for residential, for instance. But the city insists it wants to purchase the property and stuff it in its back pocket for possible use one day as a light-rail transit line. Meantime, it has visions of turning the corridor into the city's own version of Manhattan's High Line, the popular public park built on a defunct rail line above the streets of the city's West Side. And who wouldn't want one of those?
For now, however, the standoff between CP and the city is great politics for Mayor Gregor Robertson, defender of all that is healthy and clean and that is not oil and not oil-laden tank cars and not anything, essentially, that isn't a bicycle or wind turbine. And he is much loved because of it, especially among his base of young, urbane professionals who connect with the mayor's own young professional urbaneness and save-the-world ethos.
It is to his political base that the mayor is now playing, two months out from an election, as he tries to portray CP as a corporate hooligan trying to browbeat the city into overpaying for the land. It looks good on him to be standing up to the outrageous intimidation he, and his supporters, suggest the city is the victim of here.
Of course, that characterization of CP's position is preposterous, but as the great NHL philosopher Todd Bertuzzi once said: "It is what it is."
I'm sure CP realizes nothing will get solved until after the November vote. Meantime, it is threatening to activate the line for any number of fairly lame purposes, but hey, it's the only card it has to play. It will never operate another train on that track, in my opinion, because it would ignite a political firestorm. Imagine the complaints the city would get over the delays caused by CP halting intersection traffic so its cars could run through residential neighbourhoods on the city's west side? All because the city refused to make a fair and reasonable offer for valuable land it clearly covets.
My guess is the city will eventually have to cough up serious dough before it can turn the transportation strip into the utopian mix of walking trails and community gardens and, of course, cycling paths it imagines it becoming. And once people get used to it, good luck ripping it all up one day to put in a light-rail transit line.
But that's an overheated debate for another day. Right now, the mayor has an ideological battle to fight and an even bigger election war to win.
Gary Mason