Editor:
Re: People movers at beach studied, Sept. 21.
Reality always gets in the way of these pie-in-the-sky ideas.
Unless Santa Claus is going to reside permanently in White Rock, let me bring you to the reality of what these dreamers are all about!
White Rock has 20,000 folks. Many of us are seniors.
No, we are not at the point of having to eat dog food for our supper, but we have worked hard for our money. And seeing as the interest rates have made sure we will not prosper in our later years, we care about how and where we spend our money.
Where the heck do officials come from, assuming the residents of White Rock are going to come up with the funding for these impressive dreams? I thought the whole world wanted to get back to nature.
Well, we have a great natural environment on the shores of White Rock. The seagulls come and go each day and we can feed the birds each time we go to the pier, and the birds roost on the rocks at the pier at night. It is a beautiful sight to see after the sun goes down.
The sun comes up each morning and the various sea creatures such as the starfish come and go as the tide permits. Nature right? Millions of small fish grace us with their presence but, God help us, we need improvements. We need gondolas that will swiftly get us from A to B.
I thought walking was what was good for us but, no, we must now – all 20,000 of us – shell out money, so that various visitors can ride the gondola like one might do at Whistler, a mountain resort.
We are not Whistler. Sorry to break the news, but reality always rears its ugly head.
I walk down to the pier frequently throughout the spring, summer and fall. We know that many wonderful folks come from all over the world to enjoy our city, and 90 per cent never speak English, but when the tax bill comes to my address, it is paid by my husband and me.
I only need to remind myself of the last sleight of hand by city hall, when they increased my tax bill. The water bill increased when we got rid of Epcor. We were kicked off the city hall garbage-collection system with very little notice, leaving all the condos in White Rock scrambling to meet the deadline. And now our 23 condo units are paying for our own garbage, organics and recycling program, and our taxes increased.
Of course, much was done in-camera, so we don’t know what they are doing or thinking, but they took our money anyway.
Folks here, for the most part, are folks who live on a fixed income, if we are lucky. City hall has driven many folks away, even the residents, by the steep parking fees and the residents are slammed each year with more cost to get our sticker.
God help the taxpayers of White Rock By The Sea.
Rita Enns, White Rock