Editor:
After learning that the Q to Q Ferry is now going to be permanent, I have to add my opinion along with others about our recycling depot moving to Coquitlam.
The recycling depot move is to save the city roughly $70,000 annually, while the Q to Q ferry will operate at a loss which this past year was $703,138. The recycling move savings won’t offset that by very much.
The land footprint of the recycling depot is so minimal it is hard to understand that it cannot be fit into the redevelopment plan, particularly when we consider the gravel playing field there will become surface parking.
I am most annoyed that when I attended the “consultation meetings” on the Canada Games Pool site redevelopment and asked about the plan for the recycling depot, the standard answer was that it was being looked at but no plans had yet been made.
I believe the plan had been made but with no public consultation.
If our City Council cannot listen to the residents we need to consider who we need to elect.
R.R. Montgomery, New Westminster
Editor’s note: The figure quoted in the article is not the only “savings” for the city. Joining the regional depot will also save the cost of building a new facility in New West, which would have included the purchase of land, likely in the millions of dollars. A report to council said staff investigated alternative locations for a recycling depot, but found it wasn’t cost-effective to establish a new facility in New West because of the high cost of land.
