Editor:
I was very glad when our city council implemented a public engagement process last month through which people could give council input about land use and development issues, but I’m terribly disappointed at how they ignored the input they got at their meeting on Monday (July 26) regarding Harmony, a progressive proposal for affordable community housing in South Surrey.
At this meeting, through this engagement process, 54 people spoke in favour of the Harmony project and only eight spoke against it.
Also, before the meeting, through the engagement process’s online petition, I and more than 6,000 people had let council know of our support for this project and only about 400 had opposed it.
Nevertheless, four councillors and Mayor McCallum voted against it, contrary to the expressed will of the people of Surrey.
If council can vote against something that was supported by 90 per cent of the people who’d given their opinion through this public engagement process, is this process really a democratic tool? And why is council voting this way? Who is council voting for?
Geoff Dean, Surrey
