Editor, The News:
Re: South Bonson development in the OCP (Letters, Nov. 16).
The author remarks about what the residents of South Bonson knew when they moved into the area. She states the issue is being stirred up by “previous politicians,some current and their friends who have a axe to grind. That is plainly pure rubbish.
The entire development proposal could not pass the smell test from the beginning ...
The city provided the community with a four-day notice of the Onni public meeting at the South Bonson Community Center two years ago.
The meeting took place at 6 p.m., when most citizens were not even home from work.
The notice arrived in the mail on a Friday afternoon and the Onni meeting was on the following Monday.
When I questioned a Onni representative about the short notice, he advised me Onni followed the city’s instructions in preparing the public forum.
I feel the normal democratic process was manipulated from the beginning.
Most South Bonson residents are not opposed to the overall development, they simply want to have a say in the type of structures and uses that occur in their community.
Why is that such a great problem?
I feel all the residents of Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge should benefit from the beautiful, natural and recreational opportunities available in South Bonson.
Lyle Frereman
Pitt Meadows
Why we shouldn't just `get out of the way'
Editor, The News:
Re: South Bonson development in the OCP (Letters, Nov. 16).
Barbara Stewart, why is citizen engagement to be shamed? I find that notion shameful in and of itself.
We should all be more involved, now more than ever, in how progress is decided and made at all levels of government, particularly at the municipal level.
This is a right that we all have, and our governments expect it of us. People’s passion for where they live and how they wish to live should never be shamed.
To tell people to “grow up and move if you don’t like your lives here” and for people to blindly accept government decisions to allow ‘the job to be done to get it out of the way’ is the shame.
Stacey Loyer
Pitt Meadows