Dear Editor:
I read the article by Theresa McManus “Fed up with Front Street” (June 8) with mixed feelings. On the one hand, thank you, Ms. McManus, for writing about it. On the other hand: having lived for five decades on two continents, I can safely say that I have never seen a construction project so incompetently done (or not done, as Front Street remains a complete mess). I have been watching this for the entire three years since we trustingly bought property in this area. How can a project take so long? And how is it possible to do it with such utter contempt for the comfort and prosperity of local residents and business people?
We frequent businesses on Front Street, and every week it seems to be a fresh challenge to figure out how to even get there. Every week the destruction is different, and the signage is different. Very often, the signage seems deliberately designed to confuse and confound. Just last week, we discovered a fresh insult. The latest affront is that only after you take a right turn from McKenzie onto Front Street, do you discover that the road is closed 200 metres in, and you have to make a 20-point U-turn to get out of the narrow street that you are now trapped in. Why not have signage before the turn? Isn’t that the whole point of signs? It seems that it could not be worse if the construction company had a personal vendetta against the people of New West. It seems that they have a team of experts working to figure out ways to make Front Street continuously inaccessible and unpleasant.
Sadly, the people who should be protecting us apparently don’t care. The city has done nothing to protect residents or businesses.
Perhaps the most outrageous thing in the article is the statement by Kendra Johnston, executive director of the Downtown New West Business Improvement Association. I was astonished to see her emphasis on the “light at the end of the tunnel.” First of all, it is taking so long that it seems many of us will not live to enjoy this light.
Moreover, I was expecting to see her take some kind of stance in support of small businesses. But no, unless the ellipsis in her quote leaves out something substantive, it seems that Ms. Johnston’s only concern is to make nice with everyone.
The days of making nice are over. The way the construction group is treating business people and residents of New West is inexcusable, and the failure of the city and the business association to take a stand against this is even more egregious. Why is our taxpaying money being misused in this manner? Does the City of New Westminster actually want to drive businesses and residents away? Front Street is a huge chunk of a small city, and this continued chaos is negatively impacting many lives. Fix this inexcusable mess!
Joe Goodwill, New Westminster
