[SpongeG]

Caller causes suspicion over traffic light chaos

The Vancouver police department is investigating whether someone sabotaged the city's traffic light computer system, causing problems today at many key intersections.

Chief city engineer Tom Timm said the clocks governing the traffic lights were out by seven hours for much of the day. This meant morning rush-hour traffic was being managed by lights geared to the middle of the night.

"We weren't getting the optimal flow of traffic because the signals weren't functioning in the most efficient manner," said Timm.

Flashing left-turn arrows, which operate on a different schedule at night, weren't working for much of the day. And green lights were on for a shorter duration than normal.

Timm said someone could have hacked into the central computer system at the strikebound city hall. Or the traffic lights could have been out of sync because of a computer glitch, which Timm said has happened before, but never as extensively.

He said police officers arrived at city hall to investigate.

Friday will mark the 71st day about 5,000 civic workers have been off the job in a strike that began in July.

There were complaints about congestion along Granville Street and Georgia Street because of the traffic light problem. During the afternoon rush hour, commuters heading from the city through the Stanley Park Causeway to the North Shore had only one lane rather than the normal two lanes. The city fixed the causeway lane problem late in the afternoon and then moved onto the rest of the system, which was back to normal by about 5 p.m., said Timm.

Suspicion that the traffic-light problem was related to the protracted civic strike was aroused early in the day when an unidentified man phoned all-traffic radio station AM 730, and talked to traffic anchor Michel McDermott.

"This is your traffic CUPE local, and it will continue," said the man, who confirmed he was talking about the traffic light problem.

"Okay, how long will it continue for?" asked McDermott.

"Until the strike ends," said the man.

CUPE, Local 15 Paul Faoro denied that any striking members hacked into the system.

"Our union doesn't know who this caller was and we don't believe this person was a CUPE member. We would never condone this type of behaviour."

Faoro said he dispatched a CUPE striker, an engineering technician who specializes in traffic lights, to fix the problem later in the day.

Meanwhile, negotiators for both CUPE, Local 15, which represents inside workers, and CUPE, Local 1004, representing outside workers, were presenting their case to private mediator Brian Foley this week.

Foley will return with a list of recommendations sometime next week, which will be put to union workers and Vancouver city council for a vote.

Striking library workers, which are represented by CUPE Local 391, agreed Wednesday to a similar mediation process with Foley.



Transcript of Call to AM 730

Man: This is your traffic CUPE local, and it will continue.
Michele McDermott: What will continue, the lights?
Man: That's right.
MM: Okay, How long will it continue for?
Man: Until the strike ends.
MM: Oh really?

:hell:

dward@png.canwest.com with files from Jonathan Woodward

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=919bc24e-a563-4334-afd8-135989d76e04&k=21629

[mr.x2]

wtf. hang him and vapourize his remains. that is a form of terrorism.

[vitc]

Not a form of terrorism - it IS terrorism - catch him and lock him / her up forever with heavy labour ( with a whip ). I hope this is a top priority for the police and RCMP. Unfreakenbelievable!!!!

[mr.x2]

i bet they did this too:



Signs warn users of dangerous debris on city soccer fields
Broken glass, rocks, rusty nails, concrete dumped on field


Jonathan Woodward, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, September 24, 2007

Several ominous paper signs have been posted outside picketed Vancouver city parks, warning parents and children not to play on the grass because it may contain "broken glass, rusty nails, rocks or concrete."

Soccer moms are worried that the signs -- which preceded dumping of all of those items at Killarney Park last week -- mean that other parks, including Douglas Park and Heather Park, could be strewn with debris.

"If there's a warning out there, there's an implied threat," said Joan Lichtmann, 41.

"Who would do this? It's dangerous for the kids and anyone who uses the field," she said.

Another mom, Deborah Reiner, told The Sun she found the sign at Heather Park "threatening" when she first saw it.

The signs say: "Use at own risk. Playing field may contain: broken glass, rusty nails, rocks or concrete." They are printed in black ink on paper affixed to wooden signs with tape.

Some have been ripped down, said Reiner, but at least one is still in place at Douglas Park and Killarney Park.

Both women said that it's hard not to be suspicious of members of the union locals who are striking at the community centres nearby.

CUPE 1004 President Mike Jackson, who represents outside workers, said his workers were not involved.

Some 5,000 members of CUPE 15, which represents the city's inside workers, and CUPE 1004, which represents workers including groundskeepers, have been on strike since late July.

While both sides are in mediation with private mediator Brian Foley, neither is speaking to the media.

When garbage was dumped outside Mayor Sam Sullivan's Yaletown condominium in August, the Anti-Poverty Committee quickly claimed responsibility. Spokespeople for the APC couldn't be reached Sunday.

Park board chairman Ian Robertson said he didn't know of any signs, but said the board couldn't take action against the vandals without evidence.

"Whoever's doing it, you have to see them doing it," he said. "We ask for the vigilance and the eyes and ears of the neighbours."

Sixteen-year-old rugby player Jonathon Wong first discovered the nails on the field in Killarney park on Wednesday, and spent half an hour cleaning it up with his coach, John Falcos.

Then on Friday, when Lichtmann decided to hire a private contractor to mow the field, the contractor was stopped by union workers who said they were crossing the picket line.

Lichtmann announced that she would return on Saturday to mow the field herself, but by the time she and other parents arrived, someone else had dumped two distinct 10-metre trails of ash, broken industrial-sized glass, rusty nails and concrete on the field.

"The mowing was over," said Falcos, who was there at the time. "If you put a mower on that, you'll destroy your mower. If [a nail] shoots out it will kill someone."

B.C.'s labour law says that an employer must not organize people to do the work of union workers during a strike, whether they are paid or not.

Lichtmann said that city managers had agreed to clean up Killarney Park by Tuesday.

Striking workers picketing the Killarney Community Centre would not give their names to The Sun, but denied that they had any involvement.

jwoodward@png.canwest.com


© The Vancouver Sun 2007

[Canadian Mind]

Man, we could really use that anti-terror legislation right now... I regret supporting gettign rid of it. Although I doubt the government would have the balls to bust it out for the likes of the APC, and now these dorks.

[vanhattan]

Obviously, these strikers have way too much time on their hands. They all need to get a life AND a job. BTW, I agree, this is an act of municipal terrorism, however mild in form.