LETTER: Pitt Meadows can’t afford new RCMP detachment and underpass

Dear Editor,

In a classic tale of David vs Goliath, the City of Pitt Meadows must be prepared to be pummeled by CP Rail and the Port Authority. Like it or not, CP will go ahead with a tird track through the heart of Pitt Meadows with all of its increased traffic congestion (blocking Harris Road more frequently and for longer periods) and all of the associated air, noise and vibration pollution that this will produce, literally on residents doorsteps.

To call a spade a spade, it is a type of corporate blackmail. We pay $50 million or be supremely inconvenienced and endangered by the giant corporation. The city requires some very hard negotiation skills at this point, but most of all a fiscal reality check. Wants vs. needs.

We need the overpass, pollution and safety mitigation measures, and heritage building safety relocation to remain livable and viable. This will mean a borrowed debt of somewhere near $50 million depending on final negotiation outcome and how much we can beg from the federal or provincial government as grants. All else will be loans that need to be repaid by taxpayers, both residential and corporate (ultimately).

The City Fathers still want an autonomous RCMP detachment at a last published cost of $24 million borrowed from the province (as costs for CP have risen, so to no doubt have costs for this project).

Fiscal responsibility should dictate that the detachment be cancelled as currently planned and the debt that would have been incurred for this be funneled towards the debt that we will need to incur without question, for an underpass and the associated safety/livability mitigation. Double digit property tax increases for residents and businesses for any number of years will be very hard on us all.

Doubling down on that by doing two extremely expensive projects on borrowed money that will take most of a lifetime to pay off is untenable, especially as one of those debts can be foregone or drastically mitigated. Go back to the consultants report and make the most out of the present RCMP offices in Pitt Meadows and forego the expensive, ultra-modern build on Harris Road.

Now is the time to speak up, everybody, and let the city know your views on all of this. After all, it is your money, and your life here in Pitt Meadows.

Darlene Mercer, Pitt Meadows

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