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LETTERS: Great divide in White Rock

Editor: Re: Large group wants growth, Oct. 27 letters.
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Editor:

Re: Large group wants growth, Oct. 27 letters.

So, letter-writer Dale Mumford claims to represent the broad middle.

I would like to know when these people in the broad middle who “want things to happen” meet to discuss their “centrist” views. Dale seems to know.

He points to an anti-growth movement. I know of no anti-growth movement here in White Rock, but I am part of a sustainable-growth movement.

The growth that this mayor and council envision is unsustainable and irresponsible. We need to focus on current residents and upgrade the infrastructure – e.g., water pipes – before building beautification projects or highrises.

Besides, Memorial Park will become a dump in a very short while, given this city’s history of ignoring upkeep to what we already have. All we wanted – and needed – was a new washroom!

Let’s not spend another dime on this waste of taxpayers’ money and stop blaming others – such as Semiahmoo First Nation and the sustainable-growth movement – for the mistakes of a few: the mayor, council and Realtors/developers.

Look up “sunk cost effect.”

Erika Johanson, White Rock

• • •

I find it an astonishingly 19th century attitude in Dale Mumford’s letter to the editor.

Again, this is in the same vein as current council whereas the view is that Semiahmoo First Nations has no historical rights to their ancestral lands. Shame.

The last I looked, we are still in Canada and there is freedom of speech, which is anathema to a certain faction in our community. There seems to be paranoid conspiratorial theories running through their minds, causing profuse sweating that the truth is leaking out –there are spies everywhere, who can you trust?

SFN was rebuffed repeatedly when asking for consultation, starting two years ago. The call of “ambush” seems to be a cowboy-versus-native thing right from years gone by and has no place in our modern-day world. I guess that is why the groundbreaking was by invite-only and there was an armed RCMP guard at the gates, just in case those pesky civilians tried to crash our elitist party.

Talk about ambush! How about the current council ambushing 11,000 residents in an in-camera meeting right after being elected in 2014 thus changing a bylaw in-camera to cease solid-waste collection for businesses and stratas. We all know in-camera meetings are used to gag everyone on council.

Contrary to the mayor’s 2011 and 2014 campaign promises, he along with this council has steadfastly attempted to dampen community opinion. They have removed question period from council meetings, tampered with the Community Charter by not allowing questions at the annual-report meeting and held more in-camera meetings than any other council.

Now PAN is involved in the conspiracy and is being referred to in the confines of city hall as “fake news.”

The truth is powerful, and it supersedes any dogma or fictional bias by those with vested interests. That is why those with vested interest fear it and fight so hard to cause doubt in people’s minds.

Garry Wolgemuth, White Rock