Editor:
I just came home from Gibsons’ Tuesday night council meeting and find myself dispirited and angry with what went on in our Legion tonight. I first heard a consultant paid for by the George Hotel proponent tell us why our precious aquifer is not threatened by the hotel construction. I did not hear from the peer review consultant hired by the Town to balance the developer’s claims. Why not?
I heard a speaker, who asked some reasonable questions about the engineering on the project, threatened by a heckler in the crowd and who was not challenged, by anyone. I heard and saw three councillors desperately try and get to the heart of the matter, which is the height of the hotel, bullied into submission by our mayor. I am sure some recording device caught it somewhere, but I think I saw a vote by our council set aside, or refused to be accepted, and therefore ignored. I saw a look in councillors’ faces and heard their voices say that they want this project to go ahead but that they all want a discussion about the height and clarification on the aquifer before we continue on. I heard a mayor who was intent on pushing an agenda through so as not to scare away this or some future developer.
I make it no secret, I am against a hotel of this size in our little harbour. But more than anything else I am against people on any side of any issue who cannot listen to others, who cannot accept that they may not be 100 per cent right, who won’t take the time to see the other side of the page and who won’t, in the end, compromise.
Michael Bonkoff, Gibsons
