Editor:
As a long- term resident and business owner in the community of White Rock and South Surrey I would like offer my point of view.
I have lived through many different weather patterns over the past 33 years in this community, storms that left copious amounts of snow, which we haven’t seen before, torrential rain that flooded my barns on 24 Avenue the Grandview area and winds that took the power out. But I have to say the wind storm of December, 2018 was the most damaging I’ve seen yet.
I made my way out onto my balcony at the Bosa tower during the storm and tried to hang onto the railing to take video of the highrise, Oceana Parc as the wind stripped the siding off the exterior like it was paper.
I wasn’t prepared for the ravaging damage that happened to our iconic pier. To say it was devastating is an understatement, but I believe in this magnificent community I call home and will continue to do what I can to be an ambassador for it.
I read in an article that the mayor quickly brought the hammer down regarding an idea of a stunt jump with a team daredevil idea. I have to say that I, too, kind of raised my eyebrows at the idea of it. But I thought about it again and I think we should look at outside-of-the-box ways of using the pier at this time to revive it.
It would be unfortunate if because of funding the reconstruction, or lack thereof, that the local businesses along the strip will now have to endure surviving the wrath of the storm by having no tourism yet again. First they lost all the parking with the construction of that concrete water fountain for over a year, and now they will have to once again try to carry their businesses and lose yet another summer of valuable income.
This is the perfect opportunity to rebuild. The pier should not just be repaired, it needs to become a beacon to bring in new possibility to the strip. Imagine a state-of-the-art pier that could bring in more tourists.
There must be federal or provincial funding that can be researched to attain for tourism to help with the rebuilding, or how about putting it to the movie industry? The possibilities for it are endless.
Dream big, White Rock. Instead of a phoenix rising up out of the ashes, let’s find a way to have the great pier rise up out of the ocean and be our lighthouse of White Rock.
Tracey Ellis, White Rock