City of Langley's Community Crime Prevention Strategic Plan Released

People in Langley City have seen an increase in garbage, vandalism, and tagging around the community in the last several years. At the same time, there has been an increase of people living on the streets and in City parks. An increase in substance abuse and drug addiction has been observed by many residents.

In the Downtown core, there has been an increase of methadone dispensary, e-cigarette stores, and thrift stores.

These things have caused people to become increasingly concerned about the future of Langley City. Some people no longer feel safe visiting our parks or going Downtown.

Early last year, the City of Langley launched a Community Crime Prevention Task Force to come up with solutions to move the community in a positive direction.

The Task Force submitted a Community Crime Prevention Strategic Plan which is before Council today for endorsement.

I will not be sworn into Council until March 21st, but I support endorsing the Strategic Plan.

The plan focuses on three key objectives: Crime Prevention, Reduction & Public Safety; Partnership & Advocacy; and Social Change.

I want to highlight some of the high-level action items under each of these objectives.

Crime Prevention, Reduction & Public Safety

1. City to consider and introduce zoning and business regulations to address public safe and nuisance concerns: This includes regulating the number of methadone dispensaries and e-cigarette stores, and introducing shopping cart regulations.
2. Develop a sustainable program to target “crime” hot spots: This includes working with the RCMP to get more members out of their cars and walking the beat. This also includes implementing CPTED on public and private property.
3. Adhere to the principles and philosophy of the ‘Broken Window Theory’: This includes making sure that both public and private property is in a state of good repair with increased city maintenance, and more enforcement of the Community Standards Bylaw.

Partnership & Advocacy

1. Advocate to senior levels of government to provide the necessary programs and resources to address justice, crime prevention and public safety issues: This includes working with the province and health authority to get proper mental health and addiction treatment programs setup for people in the community.
2. Develop partnership opportunities with various stakeholders to prevent and reduce crime: This includes partnering with the Downtown Langley Business Association and Chamber of Commerce, as well as social service agencies, citizen groups, and faith-based organizations.

Social Change

1. Adjust the demographic makeup of the City: This includes working to adjust the mix of affordable, social, and market housing in the community.
2. Explore a Family Based Crime Prevention Program: This included more in-school programs, community gardens, and Adopt-a-Parks/Streets.
3. Create an identity for Downtown: This includes working with the Downtown Langley Business Association to bring more family-oriented events to the core.

I’m happy that there are actionable items in the Community Crime Prevention Strategic Plan. One of the challenges in Langley City is that we’ve developed many plans, but a lot of them just end up on a shelf. It will be important to make sure that this strategic plan becomes a document which is acted on at City Hall.

TransLink’s provincial puppet-master speaks, fare gates and accessible transit.

When TransLink was created back it 1999, a new deal was struck between the provincial government and local governments in Metro Vancouver. Our region would be responsible for funding the operation of the transportation network in our region, but would have the authority to manage that network.

Unfortunately, the provincial government only seems to recognize the independence of TransLink when it serves their best interest. For example, both the NDP and BC Liberal governments have proven that they have no desire to approve the funding required to expand the base bus transit network which serves the majority of transit customers.

The provincial government has put up successive roadblocks to adequately funding transit service in Metro Vancouver. Want more bus service? Have a referendum!

When the province does want TransLink to do something, it will get TransLink to do it. The province is able to do what it pleases with TransLink even though it has no legislative direct control over the agency.

The region wanted to build the Evergreen Line before the Canada Line. The provincial government ensured the Canada Line was built first.

The Evergreen Line was supposed to be light rail. The provincial government did a business case, which the BC Auditor General later found some issues with, that said SkyTrain should be built. The province proceeded to take over the construction of the Evergreen Line with SkyTrain.

TransLink said time-and-time again that fare gates were a bad idea. The provincial government got fare gates installed.

Fare gates create a barrier to accessing transit service. For some people with limited-mobility, fare gates create a barrier to accessing transit period.

Currently, people with limited-mobility can request SkyTrain staff to provide assistance. TransLink was proposing to expand this service in time for the complete fare gates closure next month. The key will be to ensure that people with limited-mobility don’t have to wait a long periods of time to get help. More SkyTrain staff is being hired to deal with the fare gates, and as a result of the SkyTrain meltdown a few summers ago.

You can read Access Transit’s Guide to Getting Around Metro Vancouver for more information about accessible transit options.

Peter Fassbender, Minister Responsible for TransLink, said yesterday that the agency could not close all the fare gates until there is “unfettered access to every person no matter what their circumstance.” While Fassbender technically has no authority to order TransLink to do anything, I’m sure the agency will leave the gates open.

Since the provincial government ordered TransLink to install the fare gates, the provincial government should also pay for the cost of providing “unfettered access”.

If the provincial government can’t keep its hands off TransLink, it should just make TransLink a provincial agency. Of course this won’t happen as the provincial government doesn’t want to take responsibility for funding the system nor for the difficult decisions that must be made when running a large transportation agency.

Fare gates fully close in April; what to do about cash-only customers

One of the reasons why TransLink delayed the launch of the Compass Card was due to lower than expected successful read rates, and the time it took to read Compass Cards on the machines installed on buses. Some people were not properly “tapping out” of buses which would cause people to be over-charged. To get things moving, TransLink switched to a one zone bus network last fall.

When people started using the Compass Card, I noticed a lot of read problems on the bus. People would wildly wave their Compass Cards at the reader, or only hold their cards for a microsecond at the reader. As people have been getting used to using the Compass Card, I've noticed that people now hold the cards steady at the reader until they get a successful green check.

I have to wonder if the original reason for delaying the Compass Card, due to lower than expected successful read rates, was more of a user training issue than a technical issue.

By most accounts, the Compass Card launch has been successful. On April 4th, TransLink will start the process of closing all the fare gates at SkyTrain stations and SeaBus terminals. According to TransLink, around 12% of the population in Metro Vancouver uses a Compass Card on average during a week.

One of the concerns brought up recently was how would people will limited mobility be able to use fare gates. In respond, TransLink will be introducing “a station assistance service to help these customers at fare gates, including elevators.” This may be an improvement for people as before, there was no assistance available for people that needed to use an elevator.

I'm still concerned about people that pay with cash on the bus. Starting in April if you pay with cash on the bus, the transfer you get will not open fare gates.

Retrofitting all the buses to dispense Compass Tickets would likely have a low return on investment. Also, paper fare media creates a lot of litter.

TransLink has already made it easier to get a Compass Card by selling pre-loaded cards through its extensive FareDealer network.

Map of TransLink's FareDealer network in the South of Fraser. Select image to enlarge.

Many people are used to going to these same FareDealers to top-up their pre-paid phone accounts. To further enhance the ease-of-use while also reducing the need to pay with cash on a bus, TransLink should allow FareDealers to top-up Compass Cards. It is technically possible, and would ensure that there are no second-class transit customers.

The City of Langley Solutions Tracker is Online

Today, I've posted a new page on this blog where I will keep track of the progress made towards implementing the solutions that I proposed during the recent by-election.

You can find it under the Get Up to Speed tab, on the left sidebar of this blog, under "City of Langley Solutions Tracker". Some of the solutions are ongoing in nature such as improving sidewalks and lighting. Other solutions will have a concrete end date such as implementing a 203rd Street Greenway.

I believe that people elected to political office should be transparent and accountable to the people in their community. The Solutions Tracker is one of the ways that I plan to accomplish this as a Councillor in the City of Langley.