Dear Editor,
Re: “Mayor charts course — plan aims to house 75,000 more residents by 2041,” News, Dec. 3.
The need to finance bridges, buses, trainways and roadways is the result of our development practices. Unless we change those practices, we will simply have another set of needs in the future.
If councils had got off the development wagon years ago, we wouldn’t be having the transportation problems we have today. I ask myself what, who and why are the driving forces behind this madness?
I have lived in Richmond since 2009 and in that brief time, two high-rises have been built within two blocks of my own tower. Just a little further away, three more sites have been sand packed and are ready to go.
I estimate my “neighborhood’s” housing will soon increase by at least 1,500 people under city council’s present “densification” policy. This likely means about 500 more cars on the road and considerable glee amongst sellers of food, drink, gas, and material goods and services that go with today’s style of living.
If this is what happens to accommodate 1,500 people, what does it mean for Richmond with the projected 75,000?
It seems that no agency in a position to control development is prepared to say, “enough already” nor to ask, “If not enough now, will there ever be enough?”
Merrill Muttart
Richmond
