Editor:
Re: $780,000 allotted for $2.3M Johnston plan, March 5.
On Feb. 16, I attended my first City of White Rock council meeting. In addition to removing question period, council approved $780,000 toward improving Johnston Road.
I was astounded on both counts! First, what’s wrong with the public asking questions of our officials? And second, what’s wrong with Johnston Road? This letter is about the latter.
Turns out, the amount the city is requesting from the New Building Canada Fund, of which small communities are to provide a portion of the cost, is actually $2.3 million.
The category under which White Rock is applying for funds is ‘Highways and Major Roads’. One of the other categories is ‘Disaster Mitigation Infrastructure’. Based on my reading of Peace Arch News, citizens are actually concerned with rail-crossing safety and not improvements on Johnston Road.
It seems to me that $780,000 – or $2.3 million – is better-purposed toward getting railroad-crossing gates on our shoreline than putting more flower pots on Johnston Road.
It’s highly unlikely these federal funds will be approved, but, if the City of White Rock has $780,000 to burn, install the rail-crossing gates. One death is one too many.
Erika Johanson, White Rock