Editor:
Re: “CAVE people among us,” Letters, Sept. 1.
Barbara Beard asks, “How long are we going to tolerate CAVE people in our community?”
I don’t agree with CAVEs (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) on every matter, but I admire their determination to stand up, challenge government, and demand full accountability at every step. That is far more important to long-term community health than any particular development.
Gospel Rock? Private land. Build a new neighbourhood. Intelligently. With foresight. Some will still be negatively impacted – the risk of owning real estate. But let’s agree, if not for CAVEs, Gospel Rock waterfront would be long gone.
“Public” Market? My inquiry into town-market financial arrangements yielded a single, cryptic offer to explain things “in private,” and “not in writing.” It’s not just CAVEs who wonder why we have a market parking lot but no parks fund.
Molly’s Reach? An average restaurant, with partial views, reminiscent of a TV show no one will remember in 20 years? There is nothing to “protect.” That said, the proposal is a sad result of the “anything goes at the Gibsons waterfront” precedent. Listen carefully and you’ll hear CAVEs saying “I told you so.”
Trellis? “Public” vs. “private?” Wages? Wrong battles. Half the Coast is over 50 years old; 40 per cent is over 60! Focus on attracting many, many more beds, public and/or private, fast.
The George? A controversial project wrapped in a questionable approvals process. The ensuing human rights complaint regarding waterfront access is not credible, but it’s a legitimate CAVE tactic, fairly using established mechanisms of government, with no suggestion of impropriety. Can the same be said of the George vis a vis the aquifer, soil contamination, OCP height restrictions, zoning, parking, the marina, and Winn Road?
Tolerance? Try comprehension instead.
Alan Donenfeld, Gibsons