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Two top TransLink planners axed

May 8th, 2015 · 137 Comments

News seeping out this afternoon that TransLink called staff to a meeting to say that two top TransLink planners were gone.

Both were very experienced people at the top of the heap and doing the actual planning. One, Brian Mills, was director of systems planning and research. The other, Tamim Raad, director of strategic planning and policy.

Charlie Smith at the Georgia Straight has an actual news story on this.

Like him, I heard that one speculation was that Raad had never been a fan of a Broadway subway and that, since the people in the Vancouver mayor’s office agitated to get Ian Jarvis removed, maybe they were behind this too since they are so pro-subway.

I’m not sure I think that’s plausible. Vancouver already got a deal with the rest of the mayors to have a subway. If by some miracle those mayors manage to eke out a Yes vote in this plebiscite, would staff really be willing or able to change the parameters of something the public had voted on?

And if the vote fails, it will all be moot for a very long time whether Vancouver gets anything except more 99B buses.

One detail that will make the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation rub its hands with glee (now there’s a visual for you): remaining staff have been told that new people will be hired for those $180,000-a-year jobs, meaning that TransLink will likely be paying both hefty severance and a new set of hefty salaries.

Intrigue, intrigue.

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