Dear Editor,
Re: “Letters mirror our society,” Letters, Aug. 5.
It is very difficult to agree with Balwant Sanghera`s comment when reading the the Letters to the Editor over the last few years, when the emotions are of an increasing anger and frustration at the direction this city is heading.
First we had the “Shark fin soup” fiasco, where our MP Alice Wong decided to fly into Richmond and visit a Chinese restaurant, and eat this soup in front of Chinese media only.
This from an MP who, when elected, promised to represent all of her constituents and not just her ethnic group.
This despite the growing outrage by many of our citizens, Chinese included, over the slaughter of the sharks, but I don`t remember any comments from the leaders of the Chinese community showing outrage at Wong`s perfidy. We even had comments like “this is our culture and we are not going to change it.”
Then there has been the continuing frustration over the “Chinese only” signs, which citizens like Kerry Starchuk have confronted council with over the years, only to be treated shamefully, by pretending she was obsessed with a situation that did not exist.
Finally, council woke up and realized there was a problem and halfheartedly tried to address it. Still not resolved!
Thirdly, the situation causing the most aggravation, and generating the most letters to the editor: the “monster homes.”
The proliferation of these homes, to the detriment of what were once lovingly called neighborhoods, has caused much anguish and the fleeing of citizens, who had lived here for more than 25 years, to places that value lots of greenery, flowers, trees, but most of all friendly adults, happy children, contented animals and great places to live.
At special meetings to discuss these problem, when citizens question the developers and builders of their actions, they are accused of being racists and attacked as anti-progressives.
Hardly a record of a happy and harmonious intercultural community. In fact, for those who want to see the future of our country, they only have to witness the disintegration of Richmond into separate halves, with one half rapidly diminishing while the other grows exponentially.
Time to take off the “rose tinted glasses” and see the situation for what it really is.
Alan Halliday
Richmond
