Sunday, June 22, 2008
Bribery or complex errors - The Plot Thickens.
The Plot thickens – Bribery or complex error?
The situation concerning the property at the corner of Sumas Way and 4th Avenue by the border, its underground tanks and oil contaminated soil has taken an interesting twist.
The neighbour across the road and the neighbour whose commercial property runs along two sides of the contaminated property are both interested in purchasing it. When the underground tanks and oil contamination was disclosed, the neighbour’s replies revealed a fascinating development.
The neighbour across the road was told approximately twenty years ago, by an environmentalist she asked, that the underground tanks had been removed and the property cleaned up.
The owner of the bordering property said that as part of the approval process to develop and build on his property an environmental assessment had to be done that included the contaminated property. The environmental assessment, which was done by looking at the records not at the property, showed that the tanks had been removed and the property cleaned up.
This certainly answers the question as to why neither neighbour was screaming about flooding rainwater contaminating their property and the surrounding environment. As far as they knew the underground tanks had been removed and the property decontaminated. It also explains why the title does not show the existence of underground tanks.
If this was true why are the pipes that connected to the underground tanks still in the ground? It does not seem a rational action to dig up and remove the underground tanks then to put the contaminated access pipes back into the ground leading nowhere. You can run a long dip pole down the pipes into a cavity in the ground and the dipstick comes up contaminated.
What are these cavities, if not underground tanks, and why do the soil not collapse and fill the empty space? Better yet, would the holes not have been filled in when the tanks were removed? As opposed to all the work required to remove the underground tanks and leave the empty hole behind.
If the tanks have been removed and the property cleaned up why does the property stink of oil to the point you can taste it when you breathe? Why, when the property floods during rain, does the water have an oil sheen, a sheen it leaves on everything when the water dries up?
It would seem that the records are incorrect and the underground tanks have not been removed; that the property has not been properly decontaminated.
Raising the question of why the records show the tanks removed and the property decontaminated when those actions never occurred?
Did a complex series of clerical errors occur just the way required for the records to incorrectly show the property as cleaned up? Or, as reputation for the way municipal business is done in this region would have it, did some one know the right someone or make a payment ( a cheaper alternative) to the right someone, to have the records show an underground tank removal and property decontamination that never occurred?
The situation concerning the property at the corner of Sumas Way and 4th Avenue by the border, its underground tanks and oil contaminated soil has taken an interesting twist.
The neighbour across the road and the neighbour whose commercial property runs along two sides of the contaminated property are both interested in purchasing it. When the underground tanks and oil contamination was disclosed, the neighbour’s replies revealed a fascinating development.
The neighbour across the road was told approximately twenty years ago, by an environmentalist she asked, that the underground tanks had been removed and the property cleaned up.
The owner of the bordering property said that as part of the approval process to develop and build on his property an environmental assessment had to be done that included the contaminated property. The environmental assessment, which was done by looking at the records not at the property, showed that the tanks had been removed and the property cleaned up.
This certainly answers the question as to why neither neighbour was screaming about flooding rainwater contaminating their property and the surrounding environment. As far as they knew the underground tanks had been removed and the property decontaminated. It also explains why the title does not show the existence of underground tanks.
If this was true why are the pipes that connected to the underground tanks still in the ground? It does not seem a rational action to dig up and remove the underground tanks then to put the contaminated access pipes back into the ground leading nowhere. You can run a long dip pole down the pipes into a cavity in the ground and the dipstick comes up contaminated.
What are these cavities, if not underground tanks, and why do the soil not collapse and fill the empty space? Better yet, would the holes not have been filled in when the tanks were removed? As opposed to all the work required to remove the underground tanks and leave the empty hole behind.
If the tanks have been removed and the property cleaned up why does the property stink of oil to the point you can taste it when you breathe? Why, when the property floods during rain, does the water have an oil sheen, a sheen it leaves on everything when the water dries up?
It would seem that the records are incorrect and the underground tanks have not been removed; that the property has not been properly decontaminated.
Raising the question of why the records show the tanks removed and the property decontaminated when those actions never occurred?
Did a complex series of clerical errors occur just the way required for the records to incorrectly show the property as cleaned up? Or, as reputation for the way municipal business is done in this region would have it, did some one know the right someone or make a payment ( a cheaper alternative) to the right someone, to have the records show an underground tank removal and property decontamination that never occurred?
Monday, June 16, 2008
Thank you A.P.A.
Saturday June 14th marked the last pancake breakfast at Abbotsford Pentecostal Assembly before the traditional summer break.
We homeless want to say thank you to APA for putting on these monthly breakfasts with a special large thank you to all the volunteers who work so hard in putting the breakfast on.
For many of us it is a special treat, something to look forward to with anticipation rather than worry or fear. It nourishes not only the body but the spirit.
We wish to extent our best wishes to Pastor Jack Keys (who was in charge of the breakfast this year) as he embarks on a ministry abroad.
To one and all our thanks – Thank You.
We homeless want to say thank you to APA for putting on these monthly breakfasts with a special large thank you to all the volunteers who work so hard in putting the breakfast on.
For many of us it is a special treat, something to look forward to with anticipation rather than worry or fear. It nourishes not only the body but the spirit.
We wish to extent our best wishes to Pastor Jack Keys (who was in charge of the breakfast this year) as he embarks on a ministry abroad.
To one and all our thanks – Thank You.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Tombstones at Abbotsford's Mill Lake.
Here is something a little eerie to think about.
A friend, a homeless friend, mentioned he had been to Mill Lake but it was getting to depressing to go there and see all the tombstones, especially those for children.
Haven’t seen any tombstones at Mill Lake? Or just haven’t noted them as tombstones.
They are hard to miss being spread around the lake and rather large, large enough to sit on. Yes the benches with their memorial plaques.
Is not a tombstone a memorial, usually but not always of stone, with an inscription noting the passing of someone?
A little something to ponder as you stroll around Mill Lake, past the tombstones.
It certainly caused me a discombobulating moment and a little pondering. The next time I find myself at Mill Lake watching the waterfowl I just may find myself sitting on the stone wall instead of the adjacent benches/tombstones.
I did say it was a little eerie.
A friend, a homeless friend, mentioned he had been to Mill Lake but it was getting to depressing to go there and see all the tombstones, especially those for children.
Haven’t seen any tombstones at Mill Lake? Or just haven’t noted them as tombstones.
They are hard to miss being spread around the lake and rather large, large enough to sit on. Yes the benches with their memorial plaques.
Is not a tombstone a memorial, usually but not always of stone, with an inscription noting the passing of someone?
A little something to ponder as you stroll around Mill Lake, past the tombstones.
It certainly caused me a discombobulating moment and a little pondering. The next time I find myself at Mill Lake watching the waterfowl I just may find myself sitting on the stone wall instead of the adjacent benches/tombstones.
I did say it was a little eerie.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Flummoxed.
There is a property in Abbotsford that has two underground oil tanks buried on it, probably left from the time in the 1940 – 50s when it was a gas station. The property is so contaminated that not only do you smell the oil, you taste in your throat.
It sits on the corner of Sumas Way and 4th Avenue just north of the Canada/USA Huntington border crossing. To improve traffic flow across the border major road construction was done involving 4th Avenue.
As a result of this work, every time it rains, this corner property is flooded 5 – 15 cm deep in rain water runoff. The rainwater is contaminated when it runs onto the property, leaving an oily sheen on everything it touches.
Unfortunately for the environment and the neighbours most of these contaminated flood waters do not remain on the property in question but runoff onto the neighbouring properties and into the ditches spreading contaminated water over a wide area.
Governments at the municipal, provincial and federal levels have all been informed of this problem. The result? Nothing. Nada. Zip. No government or government agency at any level seems interested in taking action to remedy this spreading environmental pollution.
Since governments had failed to respond, much less act, a number of well known environmental non-profits were contacted, informed of what was occurring and asked for help/advice. The result? Nothing.
I was not totally shocked when governments at all levels tried to avoid the cost of dealing with this contamination, leaving it to some other level of government to take appropriate action – and get stuck with the bill. But these from organizations that are about protection the environment?
I suppose there is just not enough potential for publicity and/or fundraising in this small environmental contamination. But still one would think …
The property sits there ignored while every time it rains the surrounding environment becomes more contaminated and the contamination spreads further and further.
I am fresh out of ideas on how to get this contamination dealt with; it just leaves me totally flummoxed.
It sits on the corner of Sumas Way and 4th Avenue just north of the Canada/USA Huntington border crossing. To improve traffic flow across the border major road construction was done involving 4th Avenue.
As a result of this work, every time it rains, this corner property is flooded 5 – 15 cm deep in rain water runoff. The rainwater is contaminated when it runs onto the property, leaving an oily sheen on everything it touches.
Unfortunately for the environment and the neighbours most of these contaminated flood waters do not remain on the property in question but runoff onto the neighbouring properties and into the ditches spreading contaminated water over a wide area.
Governments at the municipal, provincial and federal levels have all been informed of this problem. The result? Nothing. Nada. Zip. No government or government agency at any level seems interested in taking action to remedy this spreading environmental pollution.
Since governments had failed to respond, much less act, a number of well known environmental non-profits were contacted, informed of what was occurring and asked for help/advice. The result? Nothing.
I was not totally shocked when governments at all levels tried to avoid the cost of dealing with this contamination, leaving it to some other level of government to take appropriate action – and get stuck with the bill. But these from organizations that are about protection the environment?
I suppose there is just not enough potential for publicity and/or fundraising in this small environmental contamination. But still one would think …
The property sits there ignored while every time it rains the surrounding environment becomes more contaminated and the contamination spreads further and further.
I am fresh out of ideas on how to get this contamination dealt with; it just leaves me totally flummoxed.
