Editor:
Re: ‘Hump parking’ memo surprises council, March 11.
Are you kidding me? The ‘hump’ was cleared before there was a plan for immediate landscaping?
Note I said “landscaping” not a parking lot.
The director of engineering needs to show some leadership and return the ‘hump’ to its former wilderness area. Walkers will once again be able to enjoy the eagles and the birdsong.
Lois Smith, Surrey
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It’s such a relief to hear the city manager feels the ‘upgrading’ of our eagle’s bluff is finally a ‘priority’, after its decimation was authorized by city hall a year ago; we were so heartbroken after witnessing its naturalized state being ravaged, we took our out-of-province families to our newly-revised version of beautiful seasides to tour about.
When city hall waited until prime tourist season late last spring to update the west promenade, it deprived visitors of almost 100 parking spaces for much of the summer; so maybe in its benign wisdom, it can wait another month or two before starting work on the bluff, to ensure Marine Drive is turned into a proverbial parking lot once more, adversely impacting residents and seaside visitors alike.
D.M. Stewart, White Rock
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I don’t know what all the “surprise” is about. On page 18 of the Finance and Audit Committee agenda for Feb. 29, it says “Waterfront Parking Facility” $5,600,000.
I spoke at that meeting, pointing out the obvious; why spend $5.6 million on land that belongs to BNSF, why are we not building a parkade on property at Vidal/Victoria that was purchased in 2003 for the express purpose of putting up a parkade?
Shortly after, I received a copy of the city email that confirmed my interpretation, that the parkade was indeed in the five-year plan.
I’m not surprised that they are surprised. Just goes to show you that if anybody on council actually read the agenda material, nobody understood what they were reading. Or maybe the surprise is that their hidden agenda made it into the public realm.
And what about the Vidal/Victoria parkade? Where does that show on the five-year plan? Who knows?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if rather than spending millions of dollars on ego-driven icons, we rebuilt our streets, put the hydro wires underground and rebuilt the infrastructure for our water utility? All projects that benefit all of the people who have paid their taxes that have been stowed away into reserves for the benefit of future residents.
Margaret Woods, White Rock