Editor:
Re: More than just traffic will move, July 15 letters.
Laura Shaw’s letter is an accurate summary of the issues surrounding proposed ‘improvements’ to Johnston Road in uptown White Rock.
In my opinion, these ‘improvements’ are a direct result of non-existent sidewalk maintenance by the city.
Good maintenance is not eye-catching – or vote-catching – whereas capital improvements often are. In my experience, poor maintenance has always been a characteristic of many governmental operations.
I’ve resided in White Rock for 4½ years and have never seen a finger lifted to maintain the Johnston Road sidewalks, particularly on the east side. Placing brick over expanding root systems is fine, so long as you have an annual leveling and root-control program, which appears missing from the city’s priority list.
Maintain the sidewalks and forget the ‘improvement’ project – a totally unnecessary expenditure.
Leave the trees alone but ensure they are examined annually by an arbourist as part of a proper maintenance program. Leave the parking and left-turn bay alone. Hopefully, Central Plaza will attract a proper anchor tenant in the near future.
We today have calmed traffic along Johnston Road with very few periods of congestion. God forbid we make it a northbound raceway for people gunning the lights at North Bluff Road.
Shaw’s contentions are absolutely correct. Uptown Johnston Road has a funky, small-town feel, which I enjoy daily while patronizing our local merchants.
Francis Patrick Jordan, White Rock
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I would like to thank Laura Shaw for submitting an excellent letter. Maybe Option 1 should be PAN’s online Question of the Week.
Johnston Road is the front door to White Rock and should be welcoming. At the moment it is dark, dismal and needs a facelift.
John Carson, Surrey
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Re: Pedestrian-only uptown ‘a non-starter,’ July 1.
White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin and his task force have no regard for small businesses uptown, but are catering to developers who would like to no doubt rezone and build high-density highrises.
The suggested changes versus improvements to the Johnston Road corridor would certainly force longtime small businesses to either close their doors or relocate.
It would be wrong for council not to work closer with local businesses to bring about positive change, and not suffocating improvements. They are the mainstay of our community and deserve better treatment than what is proposed.
Additionally, White Rock needs to consider how friendly we are in the long term to visitors who wish to pass through our city – not how difficult we make travel for families and couples alike wishing to get to our public beaches.
Ron Eves, White Rock