Editor:

I am angry with Sechelt council and developers who seem to make Sechelt as ugly as possible.

A few examples: witness the “great wall of China” as you drive north just out of town, which is a huge eyesore and which took months of logging, blasting and trees over the highway to inconvenience commuters.

Or how about the two new waterfront towers that look as much out of place as two stranded cruise ships run aground on a peaceful beach. And now we have the complete denuding of a forested area to “put up a parking lot.”

Surely someone could have seen to leaving a fringe of trees on either side of the lane allowance to shield us and tourists from what seems to have been designed to service developers and dozens of construction trucks. Another eyesore, and a sad loss of beauty as well as property values for those whose houses back onto this mess.

Council has shown a complete disregard for community environment and the citizens who live here and pay taxes. Houses nearby now have no noise barrier from the highway and considerable light pollution from the mall at night as well as blowing dust.

But as long as big money is talking, let the rest of them eat cake, eh?

Unlike Gibsons, whose council appears open to input from its citizenry and to acting on it, the secretiveness and inconsideration of our leaders have little to do with democracy. I am outraged to watch our democratic system being eaten away at the core and being replaced with something that edges toward fascism.

Is it possible to have change and at the same time honour what is here, which is natural beauty and a community of people who moved here with respect and appreciation for that?

Donna Pretty, West Sechelt