Dear Editor:
Let me start by saying I have been a longtime resident in Sapperton (25 years). I have watched the corner of East Columbia Street and Sherbrooke Street go from a building with doctor's offices and a pharmacy to the Elizabeth Fry Society. Over this period of time the area has changed: groups of people loitering, smoking, smoking pot, men with the same issues hanging around and picking up the women that live there, fighting, residents crossing the street to walk on the other side to avoid the people, condoms and needles in the lanes and parks, numerous complaints and phone calls to police by residents, items taken out of people's yards, drunken or drug-addicted people passing out in yards, relationship fights out in public.
All this from the people that live or are associated with the Elizabeth Fry Society. If this is allowed to proceed it will look more and more like downtown Columbia Street did not so long ago. We are well on our way.
I have canvassed a lot of people at the hospital and within the neighbourhood, and not one person said they would drop their children off at a daycare run by the Elizabeth Fry Society with all the things that go on there. I thought about small children being taken to a daycare run by the Elizabeth Fry Society where they would see violence, abuse, addiction and unsafe, erratic chaos. Is this what we want to teach these children? Not a very positive environment.
I would like to see the mayor and council drop their children or grandchildren off on a daily basis for a couple of years at the Elizabeth Fry Society's daycare where things like this are happening right out the door. The only children that will be at the Elizabeth Fry Society's daycare are the residents' children, and when that doesn't work out they will turn that space into more beds to house more women. Isn't this a great way to have your permit approved by saying the hospital and neighbourhood really need and support the daycare that the Elizabeth Fry Society will provide?
I am completely opposed to the official community plan amendment. I feel that if we let the Elizabeth Fry Society encroach on to Kelly Street, then it is only a matter of time before more of the area is bought up and then the area will be wiped out and filled with condos to bring the City of New Westminster more tax dollars and to accommodate the SkyTrain route.
I am appalled by the lack of genuine concern by the mayor and council to properly preserve this area.
How could you not do a proper assessment of what the people who actually live in the neighbourhood want?
I can guarantee you that this promises to be a very contentious issue right up to and during the next municipal election.
Juanita Ivings, New Westminster
