Editor:
Re: End this silliness: Baldwin, June 3.
White Rock resident Gary Wolgemuth asked a simple technical question – if a special liquid coating applied for waterproofing may have acted as a fire accelerant – to Mayor Wayne Baldwin, him being keeper of the information gate.
Prior to the mayor’s progressive elimination of all means of communication between the city and the people – except, up until last month, email – the question would have been answered by a staff person in the engineering department. Asked; answered; move on.
It is most unfortunate that the mayor’s compartmentalization of his various positions on very serious matters puts them, at times, at odds with each other. The result? Conflicting answers that suggest a sense of paranoia that Joe Public has ulterior motives; that every time a member of the public asks a question, they are trying to trip him up and make him look bad.
A perfect example of this disparateness is when the mayor nonchalantly brushed off a truly necessary boil-water advisory, to which this community must of necessity pay attention, only brings to the fore that his brain and his mouth are not in unison. He effectively told the community: “don’t listen to what Fraser Health says. I am the mayor and I know better that the professionals,” (‘Extraordinary’ blaze tapped system, May 20).
To Wolgemuth’s query about a rumoured waterproofing coating, the mayor responded: “Seriously, where do you come up with this stuff? Why don’t you ask the owner if he wanted to see his project go up in flames? This is a thoughtless, insensitive question/comment in the midst of this tragic event and the heroic efforts of our staff. Give your head a shake.”
I would suggest Baldwin’s response was a thoughtless, insensitive comment in the midst of this tragic event and the heroic efforts of our staff. Seriously, he should give his head a shake, and maybe the tumblers will realign themselves.
Margaret Woods, White Rock