Dear Editor,
My husband and I moved to Richmond in 1996. At that time there were changes starting in the housing market. Prices were going up, but people didn’t buy houses at that time to tear them down.
Over these past 26 years the changes are remarkable and not in a good way. As I’m writing this, I’m hearing the demolition of a beautiful, well-maintained, well-loved home which was built by the owner in 1958.
The listing for this house showed rooms that were spacious and beautifully updated. A large backyard with a patio and a deck, a double detached garage, trees and shrubs pruned and cared for every year. It was repainted a few years ago and the fence mended and painted just last year.
It breaks my heart to see this home being literally shredded to be replaced by a much bigger house with a frontyard replaced by a three-car garage and just a hint of a backyard.
There was nothing wrong with this three-level split bungalow. It would have been a great place to raise yet another family. I’m wondering why it is that the city gives permits to tear down perfectly good, well-maintained homes.
Richmond has lost a lot of its charm in these past 26 years. As I walked my dog around the neighbourhood today, I noticed many of these newer homes with neglected yards, weeds and grass growing past your knees. Many of them may be empty.
Some of the older homes which once were the same as our neighbours have been purchased by offshore buyers, not yet demolished, but rented to tenants who presumably don’t care to maintain the yards which now are perfect nesting grounds for rodents.
We’ve become such a wasteful society. I don’t know of any other city in Canada where such destruction is permitted. It’s a very sad day in our neighbourhood.
Ulla Hauser
RICHMOND
