Dear editor,
When Murray Presley started spinning his web of lovely pictures, in his recent letter to the editor (Record, Sept. 24), the first thing which went through my mind was; this is too good to be true.
Of course there was a catch.
What was being "promised" in exchange for the lovely picture he painted, was that the local politicians change their minds and change the community plan. Changing the plan so many citizens worked so hard on, to give an outside developer what he wanted. The OK to build a large development of homes and make a lot of money.
But is the exchange a good one? Not in my opinion.
The developer gets what he wants and the community gets to set aside their needs.
Developers need to do a bit more work prior to deciding they want to build somewhere, so they can make a lot of money (not that I'm against making money). Developers ought to have a look at what the community plans are.
To come in and say, this is my land, I want to make it work for me, I don't care what you want, is just plain dumb/poor planning, not to mention disrespectful of the local citizens.
We frequently hear our local politicians advocating "being green," taking the environment into consideration, all that good stuff. But it's always about the easy things. Getting rid of plastic bags, painting the road green for bikes, creating a few walking paths.
When the really hard choices have to be made, though, they are somewhat less enthusiastic about the environment. It's like some of the local politicians just can't help themselves.
You have to ask, "have they ever met a developer they couldn't get to like" and made changes to the natural environment.
Changing the natural environment means removing trees and plants from acreage. It means destroying the homes of deer, eagles, fish, all sorts of animals which make up our ecology.
Murray, Murray, Murray, please don't spin these fantasy schemes. They work well for the developer but not so much for the majority of citizens and all the animals in nature.
The area in question is forested. It holds back water. Without the forest, and just buildings and blacktop, where will the water go, if there is a severe rainstorm?
If you have any doubt, just check the pictures from Calgary.
E. A. Foster,
Comox