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LETTERS: Citizens make community

Editor: Our Peninsula community is in trouble, and we need to act before we run out of time and space.

Editor:

Our Peninsula community is in trouble, and we need to act before we run out of time and space.

In the absence of a shared vision and coherent strategy of our own, we are drifting into the future on a tide of apparently indiscriminate and certainly unbalanced development. We are abandoning much of our long-term potential to special interests and short-term expediency.

We know only too well that we are ‘growing’ but have no clear idea of where we are ‘going,’ and that is a problem that we citizens must solve ourselves, sooner rather than later.

It has been said that successful and sustainable communities are created and maintained, not by government and not by chance, but by the people who live there. Our Peninsula community – the unique, ideally located ‘gateway to British Columbia’ that encompasses White Rock and South Surrey neighbourhoods, is no exception.

We urgently need more citizen participation and leadership in the management of our own community affairs.

We believe that our Peninsula City Club, currently being established, will help to achieve this.

‘City clubs’ are independent and non-partisan associations, based on a well tried and proven formula, that encourage and enable citizens to contribute more effectively to the community’s future. Ours will provide a focal point for illuminating significant challenges, a forum for discussing key issues and a framework for concerted action.

Our aim is to have our club fully structured and operating by the end of this year. Further details will be announced shortly. In the meantime, please email with any comments to info@pencity.ca

We need your help and we welcome citizens’ input and advice.

Robert Tibbs, White Rock