PEOPLE can generally accept not getting everything they want, but what really gets them mad is feeling like they've been cheated.
So we are not the least surprised at the howls of protest that greeted Port Metro Vancouver when it tucked the Low Level Road project back onto Monday's city agenda at the very last minute.
We applaud the South Slope residents for still grudgingly acknowledging the work must eventually be done.
What the new road will look like is still a mystery box. Now the port is asking city taxpayers to produce $1 million to open that box, money the port will keep if taxpayers don't like what they find in there. While it's true the city will have to spend money to stabilize the South Slope at some point, tying the refund to the project's approval amounts to extortion.
But that's not the only hostagetaking in this mess. Although the port has badly mishandled this process, a good deal of its bungling is a result of yet another rigid funding deadline imposed by the federal government.
This isn't a stimulus-program make-work project. The new road is an important part of a very important trade corridor for our nation's economy. Surely building it right is more important than building it fast. Where is the harm in taking a few more months and being forthright with the people who will have to actually live next to this new road?
Hopefully our federal politicians can remind Transport Canada that the funding they are holding to ransom is also taxpayers' money.
