Open letter to mayor and council,
I’ve read a few articles in the newspaper this week that make me realize how fairness in real estate is being replaced by who you know and who you manage to talk to — or who you can sway politically.
Whether it is the Onni development and the daycare, or the Polygon development pre-sale fiascos, or the many other unfair practices that happen when money and real estate are involved, it seems that city hall could do much more to combat these unfair practices.
Although the city needs to do far more to address childcare needs and make sure spaces exist in new developments (or subsidize spaces in schools!), it needs to be based on fair and due process, not on who you talk to and who you can sway politically.
And the Polygon development pre-sale? Seriously, this fiasco should mean that Polygon doesn’t get approved for future developments in Richmond. It is patently unfair and unsafe to start selling to customers just because they show up at a worksite. They could have told the customers to join their email list. They could have given them the dates for the sales office opening. But they didn’t do any of that…they start selling on an active construction site. It is ridiculous. There should be ramifications for doing something so unfair, unsafe and unscrupulous. There is no way that people just showed up with no inside information.
Mayor and councillors, I am asking you to take action on these unfair practices and work towards making Richmond a fair and equitable place to live and do business.
Michelle Li
Richmond
