Editor: There’s a growing rumble in Fort Langley. Can you hear it?
I’m not sure why some of the usual townsfolk have picked up their gloves and come out swinging already, but at this point all they are doing is shadow boxing.
The opponent? A mystery development proposal: a concept, a theory, a rumour.
It’s true — a businessman with history in the town held a public brainstorming session.
It’s true — there is a public invitation to view some conceptual ideas based on those brainstorming sessions.
It’s true — the people of Fort Langley are being asked to provide input to design a meaningful project on an empty lot.
It’s true — no “developer” has ever actively sought out this much community stakeholder input before.
However, sadly, it is also true that without the project even being unveiled, it is already vehemently opposed by many and they are already building a campaign of division instead of reconciliation.
And it’s needless. A community is about the people and not the buildings.
Regardless, this is not about ideology or about the childhood memories of people who grew up there. This is not even about progress.
This is about not allowing someone the opportunity to try. To try and bring a community together to collectively add a legacy item to Fort Langley’s rich and evolving history. This will not be one man’s development, this will be a community legacy project. Or it should be anyway, if people lay down their gloves.
Misty vanPopta,
Fort Langley
