Opinion

Whether you like the provincial home assessment numbers will depend very much on where you stand. Assessments are largely flat, going up or down a few per cent in the past year.

I'm not going to mock politicians this year. For one whole year, I'm going to withhold my contempt, hang back on the snide remarks, and back off from cynically pointing and laughing at them. Except for a few exceptions.

The Editor, Re: "Unhappy resident shouldn't be allowed to hold up traffic," Letters, Dec. 2, 2011. With reference to the letter from Marion Smith, I have some comments to add to hers. TransLink claims it prides itself on being "Handicap Accessible.

The Editor, Thank you all involved for another successful Steveston Rotary Santa Claus Parade Dec. 23.

The Editor, Re: "Calling all Trustees," Letters, Dec. 30. While living in Saskatchewan, a similar thing was happening to the education system there. The schools were being drastically under-funded, and were working on a bare-bones situation.

The Editor, As the president of the Richmond Food Bank Society, I have been able to observe and appreciate the way my community supports those in need.

The federal government's decidedly right-ward shift has some potentially big implications for B.C. and whichever party forms the next government here.

The Editor, In recent years, a trend perpetrated by Richmond's restaurateurs has been insidiously gaining ground at the expense of hardworking Richmondites: a gratuity automatically being slipped onto the unsuspecting patron's restaurant bill.

If there is one way history will mark 2011, it will be as the year the people regained their voice. With luck, 2012 will be remembered as the year that voice brought about change.

When it comes to the craziness of politics, I usually feel superior to my American relatives. They labour under the delusion, fed by The West Wing and a narrowly focused U.S. media, that American politics are interesting.