Back Into the Fray (But I Like It)

When I was elected onto New Maryland Council I decided to step down as President of the Fredericton Friends of the Railway Inc.
I felt it would be better not to appear as an antagonist with Fredericton Council or any other stakeholders involved with the York Street Station.
Mr. Steve Boyko took over the reins and has been doing a fine job of maintaining contact and continually digging to get facts and results.
Last week Fredericton Mayor Brad Woodside drew a line in the sand with the station owner J.D. Irving telling them to repair the York Street Station or do something to allow it to be torn down.
Have a look: http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/front/article/420340
That day the emails began coming fast and furious to the friendsoftherailway2004@yahoo.ca email address.
In defense of J.D. Irving who owns the station (I really did say that) they commented that they have no intention to tear the building down or try to get permission to do so. http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/search/article/421217
Steve Boyko took over control of the old site I had created http://ca.geocities.com/friendsoftherailway2004/Fredericton.html as well as the email. However, I continue to receive the emails on my personal BlackBerry.
Steve was out of town on Friday so we decided that I would once again become media sweetheart for the station. (To be honest, I have really missed it. The media used to love talking to me until I became a Councillor. Now they ignore me.)
On Friday afternoon I had an appointment to be interviewed by CTV. When I arrived at the scene CBC was also there and asked to talk to me.
Plus, Journalist and Blogger Extraordinaire Charles LeBlanc walked over and recorded a 3 minute interview with me.
I wasn't able to get the CTV or CBC interviews recorded but Mr. LeBlanc posted my interview with himself and was clever enough to record my interview with CBC with his camera at the time they spoke with me. Charles' blog is here http://charlesotherpersonality.blogspot.com/.
He posted the videos on Youtube here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrfdwbX2TNI&eurl=http://charlesotherpersonality.blogspot.com/ and here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUs5u7YjBE0&feature=related .
Steve has been busy keeping up with everything going on in his blogsite for the station. http://www.frederictonstation.com/ .
Once again our poor old station is in the news but once again I doubt anything will be done. I'm sorry for being a pessimist but this cycle has continued for the last 6 years or so.
The Gleaner came through with a completely lackluster article on Saturday which boggled my mind. http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/search/article/421359
Why the heck are they talking to Peter Pacey about the station?? Just because he is a local "heritage buff"?? Was he sitting beside the reporter at a coffee shop and she wasn't in the mood to do any real research? Mr. Pacey has NEVER been involved in the station efforts. Who cares if he was part of the trails coalition years ago. Any remnants of that group are long gone. They should be calling Steve or I. A real newspaper would.
The article called our group "Friends of the Train Station". Who on earth is that?
Haven't we been around long enough by now to get our name right?
One important note, I heard on the radio this morning that Fredericton Conservative candidate Keith Ashfield would aggressively pursue federal funds to save the station if he is elected in the October election. Hmmmm..this looks interesting.
If we can get Liberal candidate David Innes and Green Party's Mary Lou Babineau to commit to the same we'll be in great shape no matter who wins!
Liberal MP Andy Scott hasn't done much except have us in for a friendly chat several years ago. He didn't even offer us coffee!
Oh yes, look here for a CBC article. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2008/09/22/railway-station.html
I see in the Gleaner today the station has become a "controversial topic". http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/liveit/article/422714 .
Imagine that. After all this time it's finally graduated to controversial status.