Dear Editor,
I have to hand to this Council, they just never cease to disappoint. First, they took out respected experts and volunteers who had dedicated years of service to Bowen Island by ‘cleaning house’ at all muni committees of anyone even remotely tainted by an environmental ethic or a perceived anti-development political bent. Whole committees were disbanded, new ones created with stacked appointees and even the valued Advisory Planning Committee was stripped of any semblance of balance. Next up, they cut a secret deal to release Duntz and Underhill of their obligation to repay the municipality for court costs in the frivolous OCP legal case they lost against Bowen – my guess is that whole saga cost us at least $50k. In an effort to dig a little deeper, they simply walked away from any effort to mitigate the damage at Seymour Bay park that had been clear-cut and a storm sewer riven through its middle (without proper authorization) by sitting councillors Duntz and Jennings.
Then came the infamous debacle at Cape Roger Curtis – another round of secret meetings and Council had overturned staff’s recommendation to oppose massive private docks and told the province to go ahead, let’s ‘get her done.’ It was quite a leap to ignore the dedication of publics lands at the three most prized areas, the community pathway and 30m covenant zone, but they found a way. Two docks have been built to date by the owners of the development (who, it just so happens, had financially contributed to the most of the councillor’s election campaigns – a nice touch), then nature took her turn this past Monday. Then, the mayor put the Bowen brand on the national stage with his unceremonious command that a citizen speaking to council should ‘shut up.’ Next, Council worked extra hard to turn the simple idea of building a community hall and gathering place into a proposed parking lot, with apartments and townhouses beside our school playground – simply world class. Then a couple of them abandoned their post, perhaps wanting to get in quickly on the development gold rush on private docks and public lands?
Now, sadly, they decided to take out our kids by bulldozing the bike park, without proper consultation or any effort to consider alternative solutions. It takes special hubris to ignore hundreds of hours of community volunteer time and passion for recreation to steal play space from reckless kids. Fortunately, a little youth advocacy, media attention and a looming election brought them back to their senses.
What’s worrying about these actions is what they say about our community values. If we don’t respect elders, volunteers, taxpayer’s money, public lands and parks, schools and community space, public service commitments, and island youth … we’ve lost our way. Well, maybe we haven’t, but this Council sure has.
Doug Hooper
