Re: Mr. treacy’s letter, “City’s attempt to take over Area D” plus Editor’s Note to Brenda Leigh’s reply, Jan. 18 Mirror
Mr. Treacy does have the right to comment about sewers, as your Editor’s Note suggests. He does not, however, have the right to make statements that are untrue. I have known Brenda Leigh over 20 years and Brenda is not the person Mr. Treacy makes her out to be. If I were the director, I would be suing for defamation of character.
I have lived in the part of Area D for 28 years that Campbell River wants to take over. I absolutely insist that I get a vote on this and I wish to make it clear that I would vote “no” to going into Campbell River. I have had my own “package” sewer system at at cost of $18,000 and it will last me for 30 years. That is at $3,755 less than Campbell River’s outrageous offer to Area D residents. There are many other residents that have already installed package systems. If we were part of Campbell River, our property taxes would at least triple. Just ask residents of Quinsam Heights and North Campbell River what happened when they joined the city and they didn’t get sewers for at least 10 years.
Now, let’s talk about snow removal. Area D’s roads are sanded and ploughed by the Ministry of Transportation and we receive excellent service in this regard. If we had to rely on Campbell River to assist us in the winter, we’d probably be last on their list.
As I understand it, in Campbell River, garbage pick-up and recycling are mandatory. They are paid for through taxes. In Area D we have a choice. My household has very little garbage because we do our own recycling and composting and it only costs us $20 per year for garbage.
In my opinion, Campbell River councils, past and present, have made some bad decisions. For example, they agreed to spend $12 million of taxpayers’ money to relocate our drinking water source. BC Hydro should be paying for this, as this is required for their dam upgrade. Building a section of 19A where a vehicle cannot pull over to let the fire truck get through faster – how could an engineer and council make such a stupid mistake? Then the half-million or so for the roof garden on city hall. The Spirit Square looks like an unfinished construction site. Also, they supported building a cruise ship dock for $3 million which has no ships. Handing our several thousand dollars per year to Rivercorp for what? What have they done to improve the local economy? This is all a waste of taxpayers’ money and just a few of the reasons I do not want to join Campbell River.
Les York
Area D