Dear Editor:
The sell off of public lands (The current parks and recreation site between 21st and 23rd streets at Lonsdale) to finance the Harry Jerome recreation centre rebuild is not just a travesty for the local community and affected neighbourhoods. What should be a concern to all is the abuse of the public trust in the proper stewardship of all publicly owned assets – especially parks and community space.
This failure of proper process, combined with poor financial planning and trashing of previous OCPs cannot go unchallenged.
I ask “what is going on?” when I’m told of a 1,000 name petition of locals against this project is seemingly ignored, and yet residents of Pemberton Heights and Surrey (speaking in favour of the project and unaffected by all the negatives of it) get front and centre attention.
The best, and last true bastion of public space in Central Lonsdale is to be sold off to developers so they and investors (think foreign capital) can make huge money, without a care of what the long-term negative consequences of gigantic towers in this neighbourhood will be.
Once these towers are in place, the pressure will be on to redevelop London Drugs, White Spot and all other Lonsdale corridor lands from 17th Street north to the highway.
For Central Lonsdale residents, views of the mountains will be replaced by concrete. For those of you north of the highway, you’ll have to go up to Osborne Street or higher to see over 30 storeys at 23rd Street.
Currently there is much construction and densification either planned for or already in progress all over North Vancouver, Lynnmour, Maplewood, Moodyville, Lower Capilano, Edgemont and Lynn Valley. Some ofthis makes sense, some of it doesn’t but nothing in my opinion, is so wrong and so destructive to the liveability of the larger community as the Harry Jerome Rec Centre sell off.
North Vancouverites – if you feel as I do – speak up! North Vancouver City Council, apply sober second thought and revisit this decision of extreme and irreversible development and densification. No edifice is so worthy so as to ignore all those of us who put our trust in you.
Tony Caldwell
North Vancouver
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