Dear Editor,
After 23 years of living in Richmond “Garden City By Nature,” I find that we are losing gardens at an alarming rate, and therefore nature goes with it.
I fear that Richmond will have to change its description, because if anyone advertised their business with such blatant disregard for the truth, they would be in trouble for false advertising.
I feel displaced from an area I loved. The monster homes that now surround me have denied me privacy and sunlight. I now have drainage issues in my yard because the neighbouring homes are raised and any yard that was there to soak up moisture is now covered in pavement, which also provides no habitat for wildlife.
Having grown a much admired garden over my 23 years here, and having kept my home in good order, I thought I would be spending my final years here.
But, now retired, I cannot sit out in my own garden due to constant construction noise, which started approximately five years ago and I believe will continue for another five years.
As each of us feels forced out by all this, our houses are sold and demolished.
I always thought I might be featured in the local newspaper as the “little old lady still tending her garden,” not as a letter writer stating her disappointment at the failure of our local government to protect its citizens from the monster mansions behind electronic gates, which mar the beauty of this once “Garden City By Nature.”
So, sadly, I leave the home and garden I love next week. Though I say “goodbye Garden City By Nature,” you were actually gone long ago.
Annette Masters
Richmond
