Editor:
Re: Councillor calls for parking-plan revisit, Dec. 22.
I will admit there are few times that I am truly horrified.
In Tuesday’s paper, White Rock Coun. Grant Meyer is quoted as saying “I think that plan (parking stalls and pedestrian plaza on ‘the Hump’) is worth a second look because it combined usable green space… and additional parking.”
Usable green space? I would like to suggest it was used – birds, squirrels, other mammals, carbon-dioxide removal, oxygen replenishment, maybe even people.
Personally, I thought it a wonderful space – not commercialized like the rest of the strip.
Ecological diversity is usually thought of as a positive thing – maybe not here in White Rock.
But the really scary part to me is the mental attitude of “usable green space”. Does this mean every other treed or open area is in jeopardy of being “used”?
Patricia Christensen, Surrey
• • •
The explanations offered by city staff and Coun. Grant Meyer are pure fiction and patronizing.
• The removal of the trees required an OCP amendment; none was voted on and the public was never notified.
• The city is paying a full-time arborist who was never consulted, and this because she would never have put her stamp on this clearcut-for-votes charade.
• There is no slope-stability report and geographic technical report issued or even contracted.
• I have yet to come across a stump there that is rotten.
• Not one tree has ever fallen over and was even going to fall over.
• Meyer has dragged out this parking report after the fact and it was never in play. It’s a diversion, just like the railway issue. Pull it, use it, and then tuck it back in.
• There is no mention of the parking aspect in this year’s budget or next year’s. So that route is a ruse.
• City manager Dan Bottrill was sent out for the interview to try and put some wool in all our eyes.
• Contrasting ‘the Hump’ to Stanley Park is so patronizing and contentious – and shows Meyer’s mindset. I’m sure his real interest is to cull some votes for 2018.
In one year they have demolished any credibility they had, which was tenuous at best.
Garry Wolgemuth, White Rock
