Dear Editor:
An open letter to the mayor:
Recently I spent an hour or so walking around our downtown neighbourhood looking for trees - or especially the absence of trees.
There are probably fewer trees downtown now than there were 11 years ago.
Trees are essential, "the lungs of the city," a part of life that can substantially, by more than 20 per cent, especially if near railroad tracks and truck routes, reduce air pollution of all kinds. More than 10 people die every day in B.C., mostly in the Lower Mainland, from smoke- and pollution-related illnesses.
Your official community plan for downtown, with all the highrise apartment building construction, has probably doubled the number of people and the number of cars, most used every day, downtown. People rank health as their most important concern, followed by traffic, in New Westminster.
Your promises of a more family-friendly, healthier and more livable downtown are clearly not true, with so much more air pollution, etc.
Surely, pretending a 20-storey or more residential apartment built over a one-storey or less commercial space and then basically treating it as a primarily commercial development project, so as to eliminate greenspace and trees, is not only devious but outrageous. Trees are a most useful amenity, working 24/7/365. Downtown is now probably 97 per cent residential and not really commercial anymore. People's, especially children's, health is of utmost importance.
We live at 610 Victoria St. There is no greenspace setback or any trees in front of our building. We understand the building was extended to the street, probably increasing the value of the project by $10 million or more and increasing, incrementally, the developer's profit by more than $5 million - a nice gift from the city. Favouritism rather than fairness.
We can, and must do better for all the people, especially the children, breathing and living downtown.
Allan and Iris Solie, New Westminster
