Editor:
Re: Centres grow from history, Jan. 17 letters.
A recent letter to the editor challenged the very existence and culture of the City of White Rock.
I am confident that the citizens of White Rock are generally a proud lot, and happy being distinct from other jurisdictions with a past that commenced in the early 1900s. The City of White Rock is truly a gem in one of the most southerly points of the Lower Mainland. It has a spectacular view of Semiahmoo Bay, including an international boundary which is something developers have been eyeing for many years.
My visits to Marine Drive weekly indicate a high mortality rate for small business, the small engine that drives commerce in general. White Rock as a whole seems to have many unresolved issues that prohibit it from becoming an all-season retreat comparable to the City of West Vancouver and their Dundarav. I suspect they are somewhat the handiwork of special interest groups left unchallenged that wish resistance to a vibrant small business community on Marine Drive.
The City of White Rock must work on a more comprehensive long-term plan with a watchful eye on developers. Efforts this term must be to embrace and encourage small business, not frustrate small merchants and the public alike with suffocating parking regulations during fall and winter months.
There are those who may feel that Granville and Robson is the best reference point towards defining what the City of White Rock should be.
I advance that it best be left to those elected at the polls by voters, and not developers and special interest groups.
Ron Eves, White Rock