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Quebec to Gates: #PaintYourBridgeBill

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Quebec to Gates: #PaintYourBridgeBill
Posted by rdamon on Friday, December 5, 2014 11:33 AM

Two Quebec-area mayors want the richest man in the world to open his wallet and paint a CN bridge.

http://www.paintsquare.com/news/?fuseaction=view&id=12391

 

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Posted by Ulrich on Friday, December 5, 2014 3:03 PM

The mayor's of Quebec city and Levis are in dire need of a reality check. Bill Gates is a CN shareholder... he doesn't own the bridge nor does he have anything to do with the day to day operations of CN.  The bridge belongs to CN, and in CN's estimation it doesn't need more paint. 

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Posted by Ulrich on Friday, December 5, 2014 3:03 PM

Let the mayors pay for painting it out of their budgets. 

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Posted by edblysard on Friday, December 5, 2014 4:11 PM
Maybe Jim Norton can give them some pointers?Surprise

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Friday, December 5, 2014 4:43 PM

In my best Ronald Regan voice:  "Mr. Gates, paint down down this bridge"....

(Sorry man- the Devil made me do it)

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by Leo_Ames on Friday, December 5, 2014 4:46 PM

Sounds like the railroad fulfilled its end of the bargain. Where's the rest of the money that the government was going to contribute?

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Posted by BaltACD on Friday, December 5, 2014 4:54 PM

edblysard
Maybe Jim Norton can give them some pointers?Surprise
 

Maybe they can contact some taggers - if they just want the bridge covered in paint.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by samfp1943 on Friday, December 5, 2014 5:41 PM

Ulrich

Let the mayors pay for painting it out of their budgets. 

 

If it is a problem with the painting and maintenance of the bridge?             Why not just turn it into a toll bridge?

Let the railroad collect the tolls on their bridge, and then paint the thing.  

Why did the Politicians sell it in the first place?

Surely, CNR had some plan in mind when they bought the thing?

The $200Million (Cn) they are now saying it will cost to paint, and 'fix it' up  has GOT TO INCLUDE not only the cost of painting it, but apparently the deferred maintenance as well(?)

The final solution to the problem would be if no one wants to maintain it, then tear it down.   It has got to be worth plenty as scrap metal.     

 Then, IF the bridge is necessary; let the politicians figure out how to pay for it, then build, and maintain a new bridge.

 

 


 

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Posted by Ulrich on Friday, December 5, 2014 6:50 PM

According to the CN website they have some longterm plans for the bridge and are making an investment in its upkeep... I guess that doesn't include the paint. Tolling the bridge might work.. 35000 cars a day X say, 50 cents a car. 

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Posted by rdamon on Saturday, December 6, 2014 4:37 PM

Maybe Bill should say yes and make the bridge a giant Microsoft Ad. Wink

 

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Posted by Lake on Sunday, December 7, 2014 8:42 PM

Ask Rob Ford, ex Toronto mayor. He was real good at getting things done. And he happens to be available at this time. Confused

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Posted by Ulrich on Monday, December 8, 2014 8:32 PM

Poor old Rob now has cancer... he's going through chemo. He made a run for re election but had to pull out due to his illness. 

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Posted by lenzfamily on Tuesday, December 9, 2014 4:43 PM

Ulrich
Poor old Rob now has cancer... he's going through chemo. He made a run for re election but had to pull out due to his illness. 

He definitely has cancer and he did pull out of the mayoral race, replaced by his brother Doug who lost the contest to John Tory. However, he ran as councillor in his Etobicoke Ward and won it. He's still on the Toronto city council, just thankfully not the mayor. A little less 'Ford Nation' around.....

Charlie

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Posted by Ulrich on Tuesday, December 9, 2014 6:30 PM

He didn't need to run very hard at all to win his council seat... he's very well liked by his constituents in Etobicoke. In a way I like the guy although I don't think he's mayor material. 

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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 6:43 AM

By Provincial law, the bridge will have to be painted in French.

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Posted by KCSfan on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 7:47 AM

This reminds me of a similar situation with regard to the IC's (now KCS) bridge across the Red River between Shreveport and Bossier City, LA. After much haranguing by the City of Shreveport, the IC finally agreed to paint the bridge sometime in the late 1960's. They painted it just to a point about mid-river which was the Shreveport city limit. To this day the bridge remains a two color affair: the west half painted gray and the east half with a nice undisturbed patina of rust.

Mark

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 12:22 PM

Murray

By Provincial law, the bridge will have to be painted in French.

So you're saying they prefer gris argente to rouille...

The Internet is a wonderful thing...

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Posted by 54light15 on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 12:38 PM

If Bill won't paint the bridge, maybe he could paint my bathroom. It is nice not to hear about Rob Ford and his daily rounds of amusing hi-jinks but the columnists are hurting.

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Posted by Ulrich on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 12:43 PM

Give it time.. John Tory is only getting started. 

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 12:45 PM

KCSfan

This reminds me of a similar situation with regard to the IC's (now KCS) bridge across the Red River between Shreveport and Bossier City, LA. After much haranguing by the City of Shreveport, the IC finally agreed to paint the bridge sometime in the late 1960's. They painted it just to a point about mid-river which was the Shreveport city limit. To this day the bridge remains a two color affair: the west half painted gray and the east half with a nice undisturbed patina of rust.

Mark

 
 
Went to Google Earth and centered the view at: 32°30'50.21"N, 93°44'30.41"W
 
Then selected Street View and looked North-Northeast.
 
By golly, the near end of the bridge is gray (but in need of more paint) and the far part is full rust.  Looks like the paint/rust split is in the middle of the span at the pier on the water's edge.

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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