A Mob-like empire

Are there any subjects on earth that grip the consciousness of a British Columbian more firmly than real estate and transportation?

Not likely. Housing and transportation are the two mental symbols that have defined the very being of every British Columbian for generations. (Well, okay, B.C. Bud has probably done a lot of defining as well but that’s not relevant here.)

So it was pretty amazing that Translink, or more properly The South Coast Transportation Authority revealed that it plans to finance rapid transit expansion by buying and selling real estate along its routes.

This was noted by one newspaper that obviously has its finger on the pulse of the population as the beginning of a Mob-like “Empire” that was going to screw the little guy somehow.

Actually, what it really meant was it would screw the little local politician – there's a big difference. So if we can step away from this obvious pandering to the mythical little guy, we might notice that the concept has a lot of merit.

TransLink (oops, the Authority) plans to spend $14 billion over the next decade expanding the transit system so it can get people out of those carbon dioxide-spewing cars and stop the march of housing into the farmlands of the Fraser Valley. Real estate moguling will bring in about $1.5 billion, which might reduce some of the taxes it’s going to have to impose to pay for it all.

Great so far. Anything that keeps a politician's fingers out of my pocket is a good thing.

But the real golden thread that runs through this plan is the effect it will have on housing density in the municipalities transit will serve. While some local politicians who currently govern this kind of zoning regulation might be upset at the loss of control, it seems to me that this is really just a natural step to what transit is already doing.

Any transit authority is a de facto rezoning entity because whereever transit goes, denser housing springs up. It’s been that way since rapid transit first arrived in cities. People recognize that if they can live near a transit point, they won’t have to fight traffic and will get to work much faster and easier.

Knowing that, what is really changing here? Well, the much vaunted “democratic” influence of those who always oppose any changes in their local neighbourhoods, and so vehemently resist densification, will

And well it should. These people arrive somewhere and immediately want to keep it exactly as it was when they got there – in other words block anyone else from doing the same thing. It takes a higher and stronger authority to break through this shut-the-door-behind-me attitude that is so prevalent in BC.

If that means putting “the Mob” in charge, then so be it. I'm as populist, rebellious and distrusting of authority as the next guy, but I’ve also lived in cities where citizens actually elected people who were rumored to be connected to the Mob. They figured that at least the Mob could make things work.

Unlike someone who quaked at every bleep of protest and complaint that life was changing.

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