But you get the idea… I mean, obviously there are far more serious things I don’t like to admit about myself that (shocker) I will not be writing down here and putting out into the public sphere. But one thing I will cop to is that I do not like to admit where I’m from. I do admit it (because I don’t believe in being evasive\/coy about stuff you might not like but didn’t choose and can’t change)\u00a0but I don’t like it. Not one bit.<\/p>\n
Hi, my name is Kalev and yes, I grew up in Surrey, BC<\/a>. ((Happily I at least wasn’t born there. ?))<\/p>\n I can’t tell you that I always knew how awful Surrey was. Growing up in Surrey, I just didn’t really understand there were (vastly) other ways to live. Given I was in deep denial about my sexuality until I was nearly 20, I didn’t experience the place as particularly anti-gay (even though Surrey is, to a remarkably disturbing degree). And I’m not ashamed to be from Surrey because it’s the default butt of every redneck\/dumb or slutty blond joke in the region. I’m not ashamed because of the stereotypes about Surrey, because every region has a municipality like that. ((I’m looking at you, Scarborough! ?)) No, I’m ashamed to be from Surrey because of how it has been and acted, historically, and how it still\u00a0is.\u00a0<\/em>And it’s a lot more than uncomplicated stereotypes about the types of\u00a0people who live there\u2014which could, to be fair, be made about nearly any community far enough out from any urban centre\u2014that underpin\u00a0my ire.<\/p>\n My\u00a0deep and abiding contempt for my hometown in based in a variety of reasons, many of which relate to it embodying values that are completely antithetical to my core beliefs. But perhaps the one aspect of Surrey that most upsets me, that makes my blood boil, is that the city and its residents are constantly whining about how they pay SO. MUCH.<\/em> for transit (not directly, but via things like property taxes and gas taxes) ((which is also a lie since, as I’ve mentioned before, property taxes in the Lower Mainland are shockingly<\/em> low for a region of our size, population, and complexity\u2014and Surrey is not the exception to that rule (in a relative sense, White Rock is) )) and yet they are so desperately shortchanged in return for their selfless sacrifice.<\/p>\n (Let me tell you, just as an aside: on a variety of fronts in my life, I am getting damn sick of people complaining about problems that are their own damn fault and which they could damn well fix if they damn well shut the fuck up and worked on the problem instead of bitching about how it was someone else’s fault and out of their control.)<\/p>\n And this unpleasant caterwauling was out in full force yesterday in the comment section of the livestream of\u00a0the joint Mayors’ Council\u2013TransLink board meeting where the 10-Year Plan was approved<\/a>.<\/p>\n To wit:<\/p>\n
![\"screen-shot-2016-11-23-at-2-40-13-pm\"](\"https:\/\/www.kalev.org\/kblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-11-23-at-2.40.13-PM.png\")
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