Editor:
As the election draws closer we’re hearing a lot about things like community values, engagement and building the foundation for progress – this is classic politician-speak. As the old saying goes, “Where’s the beef?” We have some major problems in our community inflicting ongoing damage and they’re getting worse, not better.
We have one of the least affordable communities in the country and a severe shortage of low-cost accommodations. We have nowhere for seniors and young families on low income to live – they are being forced to leave the community. And we’ve seen no concerted action by our local government to take any of the wide range of measures available to them to change this. Developments have been downsized and their affordable housing concessions deleted by council. There is no serious engagement of senior levels of government to fund low-cost housing. Neither developers nor non-profit housing organizations have been effectively engaged on this. It’s up to local government to deal with affordability, and our current council has been found badly lacking.
Our perennial water crisis follows a parallel path. We live in a rain forest and ration water like it’s a desert. This problem has existed for decades and the solutions are well understood. Instead of action we get talk, consultation, plans and obfuscation. What we need is significant additional water storage capacity and the range of effective conservation measures that have been so well documented but not implemented. Sadly, we’re no closer to a solution than we were a decade ago when I moved to the Coast. Again, this is a failure of local government – both the District of Sechelt and the SCRD.
We need local representatives who will take action on these problems, not kick them down the road another four years. We need change.
Keith Maxwell, Sechelt
