All of Jasper may have tuned into ABC’s The Bachelor Monday night, but I’m saving my screen time for an even juicier watch party.
Even though I am DYING to see if true love blossoms in the Canadian Rockies and whether or not Bachelor Joey Graziadei’s polar plunge in Lac Beauvert will shrivel his chances with the harem of hangers-on bunking up at JPL’s opulent Stanley Thompson cabin, I’m actually more interested in the drama unfolding at Jasper’s municipal council chambers on Tuesday.
Why? Because Jasper’s favourite Facebook topic is back on the docket. Yes, public transit will have its own rose ceremony when councillors vote on whether or not to advance a Request for Proposals (RFP) to build a new electric bus and e-bike fleet facility. Talk about a cliff hanger!
Now before all those Buy Sell and Trade “Top Contributors” start banging out caustic comments (edit: too late) and tear a strip off of town officials for spraying taxpayer dollars around like so much lukewarm Prosecco, remember that the money the town would be using to build its new public transit infrastructure comes from a federal government grant, and that local ratepayers would only be shelling out for less than 20 percent of the $6.2 million initiative.
It seems to me that saying no to free money to jumpstart your public works project would be crazier than expecting to find one’s soulmate via an elimination-style, Mean Girls-meets-Maury Povich reality TV show.
But maybe that’s just me.
Being a regular viewer of the epic docu-series known as the Municipality of Jasper’s YouTube channel, I have a couple of predictions before the drama unfolds on Tuesday. First, I can all but guarantee the subject of Jasper’s debt limit will come up—the notion being that the town would be encroaching on it by borrowing the $830K (with interest) it needs to fund the fleet facility.
Taking this position is misleading in that it ignores the fact that Jasper is well-within its debt capacity, and also that debentures (long-term borrowing) are used for exactly this type of long-term capital project.
But I get that it’s good for ratings.
Another narrative that will sprout up as sure as Joey’s hunky 5’o’clock shadow is one which disparages electric vehicles—and electric busses, by association—as unreliable and having a reduced winter range. This viewpoint is perhaps understandable in that there have been media reports close to home (Edmonton) which have put electric transit in a bad light.
However, with a little further digging about what led to EV darling Proterra’s bankruptcy, and taking into consideration the Jasper context, where routes are shorter and there will be ample time to charge up the vehicles between service, saying all EVs are junk seems a trifle exaggerated—like Joey posing in front of a half-acre of firewood, pretending it was his axe which split it all.
The true heroes, those who will be chopping it up for real, will be Jasper’s elected officials as they hop back on the bumpy subject of public transit. It’s too bad that anything which has to do with moving residents and visitors around a national park community with a municipally-run transit system has become so corrosive, but I guess that’s small town politics for ya.
What would be great is if some Jasperites could ratchet down the pearl clutching and judge the utility of embracing public transit by its own merits…you know: reducing single-car use, making life more affordable and getting people—including those without access to personal transportation—around the community and the park more efficiently.
Admittedly, the roll out of Jasper Transit has left a lot to be desired—residents have complained about the system’s initial scheduling, asked questions about the safety of the special school route and in general, haven’t yet incorporated it into their daily lives. I’m optimistic that the spring and summer will see increased ridership and allow operators to continue to work out the bugs.
But for those councillors who have it in their minds to vote the $5 million grant off the island with sky-is-falling pronouncements and whataboutisms, please: log off of Facebook, spare us the drama and try to see the bigger picture. We’re talking about getting $5 million to help power a remote, rural community’s infrastructure into the future—during a time when the province is aiming to double Alberta’s tourism economy to $25 billion in the next 10 years. You think it’s hard to find a place to park in the summer now?
I get that public transit and Jasper has had a rough honeymoon, but if $10 of federal funding to $2 of municipal money isn’t marriage material, Joey Graziadei, well then I don’t know what is!
Bob Covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com
