Editor:
Re: Marine Drive ‘is dying’. Jan. 25.
The article in your Jan. 25 edition left me gobsmacked once again.
Coun. Grant Meyer was quoted as saying that “it’s out of the city’s hands if landlords choose to increase their rent far more than inflation,” and “housing prices mean that a lot of my friends and family just don’t eat out as much”. Coun. Bill Lawrence was quoted as saying that “Marine Drive is dying,” and that the city should “definitely be doing more to help merchants in winter.”
The city’s response is that it is going to build a new, 300-vehicle parkade for $9 million, when the owner of the Pearl Bistro just emailed a picture of the “near-empty parking lot adjacent to Marine Drive.”
Does no one on council see the absurdity in this?
As far as I can tell from what I’ve read, the problem for the restaurant business along Marine Drive isn’t the summer months. And the parking lots are empty in the winter months. But the city is going to build a $9-million parking garage.
Bruce McIntosh, White Rock
