Dear Editor,
Re: “Pier Pressure at Gary Pt.,” News, Oct. 30.
One has to ask, how many “legacy projects” are going to be built in Richmond?
Don’t we have enough “white elephants” built with hard-earned, taxpayer dollars? This is just another asinine idea promoted by Coun. Bill McNulty.
If you go back to 2011, it was McNulty and his sidekick Coun. Harold Steves, aka “the dynamic duo,” who planned a tall ships festival but neglected to give the organizing committee in California sufficient lead time.
Our “dynamic duo” felt that six months notice was sufficient when in point of fact these festivals are planned and booked years in advance.
Based on information that McNulty and Steves provided to the city, planners moved forward and spent millions of taxpayer dollars on infrastructure to accommodate this phantom festival.
The unsightly, permanent unused pilings are a constant reminder of the costly debacle created by the same person who wants to resurrect this project to the tune of $1.5 million plus $575,000 to bring one ship to Steveston.
Every time I take a walk around Garry Point and look at the ugliness of those pilings, I am reminded of the person who initiated the doomed project in 2011.
The question is, if a permanent “legacy pier” is built, what will its purpose be after five days of use?
I am also happy to hear that our intrepid councillor has already been to Japan to discuss this matter and that an additional trip may be in the works. Of course, all of this is at taxpayer expense.
When I look around Richmond I am in awe at the number of “legacy projects.” We have the $100 million Oval, which taxpayers “contribute” $3 to $4 million dollars a year to cover the deficit which was never supposed to happen.
We have Branscombe House, which was supposed to be an “artist’s residency,” which cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to renovate.
Unfortunately, the art community was never consulted or advised as to what the city had in mind. To this day, the house remains unused. What a legacy!
Another great investment was the European-style intersection we have at the corner of No. 1 Road and Moncton Street in Steveston. We had to be the only city in Canada with this: Cost: $600,000 plus mass confusion.
Richmond has a multiple number of legacies; We have a council that raises property taxes every year; We have salaries at city hall which are obscene; We have grandiose projects which are dreamed up by councillors costing taxpayers millions of dollars; We have financial waste with no accountability.
The only thing that this administration is good at is spending/wasting money on non-essential projects.
I truly believe that this mayor and council live in another world when it comes to financial stewardship and accountability.
They don’t seem to live in the real world. The waste is unbelievable when we have more basic, pressing needs to spend money on.
I hear the constant rhetoric about affordable housing,I hear about children going to school with empty stomachs, I hear the need for more policing and that families are lining up at food banks.
This list goes on, yet we have a councillor who wants to spend $1.5 million on a pier for a week-long festival so that he can have a photo op.
We live in a fragile economy. For the average person/family, making ends meet is difficult. Unemployment is rising, taxes are rising, food inflation is on the up, rents are sky high, etc.
When is this administration going to step out of its bubble, face reality and stop the wasteful spending? No to the pier.
Gary M. Assaly
Richmond
