The Editor, Re: "Richmond Walmart hits buffer, again," News, Sept. 18.
Given Richmond's pro-development record, one wonders if council will try to kill two birds with one stone with the proposed Walmart complex at Alderbridge Way and Garden City Road.
The plan would appear to be: welcome yet more big-box mall shopping, thus presumably more business and property tax dollars to pad corporate salaries and expense accounts.
Proponents conveniently ignore the inevitable increased congestion and air pollution from more vehicle use that poor bus service, unsafe or non-existent bicycle lanes, and too-distant rapid transit will necessitate.
More acres of pavement and asphalt means more heat, noise, debris and dust. Perhaps the worst environmental tragedy is the obliteration of what once was one of the few remaining green and treed view/wildlife corridors in central Richmond.
Hmmm, that strategy seems not too unlike erecting a giant white elephant money-sucking pit along the No. 2 Road dyke and obliterating what once was a green, environmentally-friendly example of an urban campground.
That leafy oasis was not only extremely well-used and popular, it paid for itself, and arguably attracted far more tourist dollars into our city than the glorifed community centre replacement residents must now subsidize in perpetuity.
The family-owned Walmart monopoly's low cost, low wages philosophy bears major responsibility for the demise of small-town shopping streets and small family businesses all across North America.
Could Richmond's already established stripmalls, as ugly and shadeless as most are, or even precious Steveston, be next? Queensborough's Walmart is a mere 10 minutes east on the Alderbridge Connector; the almost new former Rona at Sea Island Way and Sexsmith has languished untenanted for years; rarely busy Lansdowne Mall with its huge underutilized footprint and latest low-budget addition, Target, lies one block from the proposed site.
But hey! Walmart stores allow camping for free.
Ruth Alsemgeest
Richmond
