Editor:
Re: 84 run in Surrey, 30 in White Rock, Sept. 19.
Oh my goodness! I know that we need a change but this is a little ridiculous. How we are even supposed to know who these people are or what they stand for?
I am sorry to see so many different ‘slates’ in place. We have seen what happens when a slate of like-minded people get elected to council. The current council has given us massive construction resulting in deforestation of vast acres of land, the unprecedented congestion on our roads and the heartbreak of lost wildlife and old-growth trees. It’s been too much and it’s been too fast.
I want to see a varied group of people running for election; personalities with diverse ideas and ideals and backgrounds. I want a council that consists of individuals that can disagree on any given issue but are willing to discuss and examine and consider and deliberate until finally a resolution is reached that is a benefit to the majority of Surrey residents; a compromise if you will that allows all councillors to stand behind the decision because they were all fully engaged in making it. No done deals or group-thinks, or because the mayor says so.
I am tired of quantity instead of quality. I don’t want catchy phrases and names that are supposed to impress me. I want a council that cares about bald eagles nesting and cedar trees that are so wide you can’t get your arms around them; a council that knows that being elected to serve the citizens of Surrey is a privilege not a right; that the citizens that elect them are their neighbours and our voices deserve to be heard and listened to and respected.
Now, if I can just find out which of the eight mayoral candidates and 28 running for the councillor positions feel the same way I do, maybe I’ll have some idea how to vote.
Rachel Dyck, Surrey