Editor:
Recently it was suggested that the SSC proposal to develop their property in Porpoise Bay should go to a public hearing. I am wondering what the point of this would be as we already pay municipal staff who have the skills, knowledge and training necessary to determine if a project is viable or not. It seems to me that going to the public, who don’t have these skills, would merely be a popularity contest with gobs of money being spent on a marketing campaign.
We must learn from what happened to the lovely town of Gibsons when a developer interferes with a process. Signs appeared out of nowhere and neighbour was pitted against neighbour. It was sold to the public that there would be jobs and anyone against the project would be against jobs and therefore against families trying to make a living. Developers pay money to companies to survey communities to find out the top issues and then they pay marketing firms to capitalize on this knowledge and develop slick marketing plans and emotionally charge the issue to manipulate the population. Gibsons never knew what hit them.
In Sechelt’s case we see in social media and in our local papers a repeated statement that because this project is not approved to go to a public hearing, our mayor is “against” development. I don’t know our mayor, but I know he was duly elected by the citizens of Sechelt, and as such, this is an insult to the people who elected him. As for this development proposal, I don’t know if it is a good idea or not. I do know that an awful lot of money has already been spent on currying favour in the community. I care about our community as a whole. I don’t want to see what’s happened in Gibsons happen to us. It will take years to repair the rifts in Gibsons, and though we may disagree here in Sechelt from time to time, we still maintain a mutual respect and fondness for each other despite differing points of view.
Trust in the process, in our municipal employees and our duly elected officials – and please don’t fall for flattery and high-powered manipulation. We are smarter than that.
Paula Bowie, Sechelt
