Editor:
I would like to thank White Rock city council for destroying the seaside community that its residents have been trying to protect since its inception.
Instead, we will now have a seaside community of highrises. As I look around, I see the building of – and the proposals for – at least 10 to 12 more highrises in a three-square-block area.
The traffic congestion now is unbearable. I can’t imagine what it will be like in three years. We don’t have a fire department that can fight a three-story building, how will it manage with all these highrises? I think I would have preferred to amalgamate with the City of Surrey than this fiasco. It didn’t seem to hurt Ocean Park; I don’t see any highrises there.
Again, White Rock council, thanks for nothing.
David York, White Rock
• • •
Re: Beyond the construction, April 18 letters.
Letter-writer Barry Collins states that the current council is “damned if they do and damned if they don’t.”
We all agree that White Rock needs a facelift; we disagree on how that should be done.
Low-rise buildings – three to four storeys – would have provided the same “revitalized town centre with new shops, town square and other amenities” without the shadows and wind tunnels that highrise towers create, and without the increase in density and all that this brings: congestion, increase in crime, loss of small-town charm.
If the council would bother to talk to the residents instead of developers, they might have got it right.
Erika Johanson, White Rock
• • •
Few stores left to patronize
Re: Housing now a commodity, May 4 letters.
Regarding Patricia Kealy’s letter on vacant homes not contributing to White Rock’s stores, my question would be, what stores is she talking about?
Would it be the Safeway that used to be on North Bluff Road? Sorry that moved to Surrey long ago. Maybe it’s Buy Low. Nope, that’s gone to Bosa condos. How about a White Rock Walmart, Best Buy, Subway or Home Depot?
Well, maybe she’s talking about Howe’s Market or the corner store across from city hall, perhaps the corner store at George Street and North Bluff. Maybe she is talking about banking at the Royal Bank. Nope, that’s gone soon, too.
I’m confused. She suggests a tax on vacant properties to make up for folks not patronizing local stores. Smell the coffee, we don’t have any!
The city has many more ways to generate revenue. How about the Tuesday Tax? We could send money to city hall just because it’s Tuesday. Or how about the “Air That I Breathe Tax.” Far-fetched, maybe.
Barry Gaudin, White Rock
