Dear Editor,
How many years will it take before residents can expect city council to spend our hard earned tax dollars in a feasible way?
In the last few weeks, the city has announced plans to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on re-doing parks that only need a little bit of love, paint, and attention, questionable artwork at the new Minoru sports centre and an outdated museum at the Richmond Oval.
Here are some thoughts:
How about cleaning some of the ditches around Richmond?
The ditch in front of our house is the city’s responsibility not mine, and here I am risking my neck try to cut down and clean out the growth the accumulating there.
On top of that workers in the neighbourhood building these new mega homes tend to use ditches in front of old homes as garbage bins or refuge containers and continue to throw their coffee cups, lunch containers, used batteries, and god knows what else into the mix.
How many ditches can be cleaned out for the thousands of dollars you are throwing away?
Or maybe you can even close the ditches in yourself and actually build sidewalks on some these roads so people can walk down the street in safety?
Or, how about filling in the ditches on No. 6 and 7 roads and widening them to allow for greater traffic volume given the immense amount of development you have allowed to take place in our city?
Or, how about showing some concern for the older residents who have lost their Home Owner Grants due to increasing house values?
Some older people are not ready to leave Richmond and would like to be able to afford their home while they are living there.
Maybe you could lobby the provincial government to make some changes to the legislation or offer some other type of tax subsidy that would keeper older people, especially seniors,in a position where they can afford to pay their taxes?
As far as I can see, city councillors have allowed to spend our tax with impunity.
It is time we started to make a fuss. It is time we hold our new councillors accountable to their pre-election promises.
It is time to take back our city and make sure the people we elect are working in our best interests.
J. Tilden
Richmond
