Skip to content

The pro-development council

Dear Editor, We do not want to repeat the defamation campaign we witnessed at the last election.

Dear Editor,

We do not want to repeat the defamation campaign we witnessed at the last election. But we do want to correct a few things where the pro development went overboard:
It is too late to prevent the docks council already built, but we should not allow more docks to ruin  public beaches. Wherever boats dock, the coliform count goes up, which is detrimental to public health.
We do need environmental and earthquake assessment before big developments go ahead, especially on steep slopes. We do live in an earthquake zone after all!
Builders make more money building high and dense. It is up to us to decide if we want that in each case and make sure that experts make sure it is safe when the earth moves. It is not the builders who will live there, but people like us.
People were fired from committees because they were “green.” That is totally undemocratic. It should never happen again. We need all the different voices to be heard on all the issues.
Listening to the candidates speeches, they seem to be all green at heart. I hope, that even the pro-development  candidates will have the guts to stand up to their friends to tell them the truth if they go too far and become reckless. True friends are honest with each other.
The last council made big promises that went nowhere, because they found out what former councils already knew: That we cannot afford big plans on our very limited tax base. So let’s sell the surplus lands as soon as possible.
We do not want to loose the green entrance to our island, but we do need to broaden our main street, since it is also our ferry marshalling area. That will take a strip off Crippen Park’s blackberry bushes. It will be worth it.
I agree with Murray Skeels, that an expert assessment of the resulting traffic situation has to be performed before any building plans on the slope below the school can go any further. The sidewalk there is swarming with kids at certain times. That sidewalk is needed for the kids, it should even be extended to the playground.
Lots of work for the new Council wherever you look. All the best!

Imke Zimmermann