Ready to Engage collects 4K signatures against southwest BRT

A lobby group opposed to a proposalto expand rapid transit in southwest Calgary presented city officials with a petition signed by more than4,000 people on Monday.

The petition, started by the lobby group Ready to Engage, is the latest step in the group's opposition to the city's plan to build a 22-kilometreBus Rapid Transit (BRT) line from Woodbine to the downtown core thatincludesbus-only lanes along 14th Street.

• MORE CALGARY NEWS |Calgary vehicle thefts map: See where the crime surge happened
• MORE CALGARY NEWS |Charges laid against Riverfront Aquariums after 333 animals seized

The city is overestimating the number of people who would use the BRT service, and underestimating how much it would cost to build, said the group's chairmanMauriceTims.

"We hope the city will re-evaluate the project," he said. "It's just not economic."

Mayor NaheedNenshisaid the legitimacy of the petition could be in question.

"We have multiple, multiple, multiple eyewitnesses saying that a lot of those signatures were garnered under false pretenses," he said.

Tims also said his group's team of engineers believes a 1950s-era gas pipeline along underneath 14th Street will make construction of new bus lanes too dangerous.

"It's less than three-feet deep," he said.

Opposition to the southwest BRT plan has promptedanother newcitizens' group to come to its defence.

Iloveyyctransit spokeswoman Jennifer Burgess says her group's six-member organizing committee is concerned about the way the conversation has been framed.

"We felt it was overwhelmingly negativeand misleading and just didn't represent how most Calgarians feel. So we wanted to do something about it," she said.

In particular, Burgess says the assertion by Ready to Engage that the city has failed to consult people about the project is false.

"This has been, I think, one of the best communicated projects the city has done. So yeah, I have a hard time understanding that argument," she said.

Public meetings became heated

MacLogan,Calgary's general manager of transportation, saidearlier this year thatthe route will be designed in close consultation with the operator of the gas line.

Ready to Engage spokesman AlanHallmanargues the city has failed to listen to the concerns about the SouthwestTransitwayplan.

"I'm hoping that the city looks at the vast number of people that we've got in southwest Calgary and, for that matter, all over Calgary, that are asking city council to debate this on the floor of city council,"Hallmansaid.

Citing incidents of physical assault as well asthreats of violence and a death threat,MayorNaheedNenshihas said there would be no future public meetings on the issue.

Tims said his grouptook no part in the actions Nenshi mentioned.

"We asked Mayor Nenshi for an apology but of course he refused," he said.

The mayor says Ready to Engage has its own apologizing to do.

"I don't t know what they want an apology for. If their feelings were hurt, well I'm very, very sorry their feelings were hurt. But I would like some recognition of that fact that inappropriate behaviour occurred," he said.

The city says thesouthwest BRT will get riders to major destinations that are currently under-serviced by transit, such as the Southland Leisure Centre, Glenmore Landing, Heritage Park, Rockyview Hospital, Mount Royal University, Lincoln Park, Currie Barracks and Marda Loop.