Editor:
We pay a pretty penny in property taxes to live in a community to be proud of.
I grew up here and have always found it a soothing neighbourhood.
Now, within two blocks of my home in this small community, there are at least eight properties up for redevelopment. Six are within my block itself. Two of the properties have garbage in the front yard, but have been vacated for over two-plus weeks.
How is it that the owners aren’t required to remove this junk?
On Blackburn Avenue sits a gutted house with a TV and couch on the front lawn. There is not adequate fencing and I can walk right on to the property.
The property on Nichol Road was cleaned out by the owners of their washing machines and other valuables the day after all the tenants moved out, but they left behind a truckload of junk for people to dig through.
A few years ago, a bylaw officer knocked on my 60-something-year-old single mother’s house, demanding she cover up the graffiti on her fence – put there the night before – within 24 hours or be fined. It was pouring rain out.
Now, I walk my neighbourhood looking at empty overgrown lots and garbage. I guess the bylaw officers are too busy handing out parking tickets in front of the hospital and the beach to drive around our handful of streets.
Are we, as a two-block neighbourhood, going to have to put up with eight demolitions and rebuilds within the next couple of years?
If I’m going to be forced to live like I’m in Surrey, I should be paying Surrey property taxes.
Tania Blair, White Rock
