Editor, The News:
Re: 1,000 signatures already for petition started to stop Maple Ridge road straightening project.
We are concerned to hear that the municipality may be planning to significantly alter the beautifully forested section of road on Fern Crescent.
My wife and I have run that road for more than a decade and have enjoyed the spectacular trees and wildlife in every season. We have met regular walkers and cyclists who enjoy the area, as well.
While we understand that there has been a significant increase of residents in the area and that many are in a hurry to get to their destinations, but how much time would be saved by straightening the road? Less than five minutes, I would guess.
Not enough to sacrifice such magnificent trees.
Financially, it doesn’t make sense for TransLink to spend $600,000 dollars for so little benefit. Use some of that money to build more pedestrian and bike paths and put in some road calming devices to make the road safer for drivers.
And, yes, it will take a few minutes longer to drive the road, but once we cut down those heritage trees, they are gone forever.
We are much too willing to mow down the beautiful in the name of expediency. Without beauty in our world, we are, quite simply, lost.
Trees, and the wildlife that live with them, are the lifeblood of our planet.
Michael Sather and Annette LeBox
Maple Ridge
Editor’s note: Mr. Sather is a former NDP MLA for Pitt Meadows-
Maple Ridge.
