Editor:
I see the article about …"more land sales planned to fund pool". Please?
Did the Council have to sell land for the Blair Pool? I don't know. Did the Council have to sell land for the LEC? I have to pay my taxes so I have no money to bet with, but if I did, I'd say 'probably' not, because as I understand it, correct me if I'm wrong, the provincial government played a part in the development of the LEC project.
And the artist's rendition... do you really think that 'rendition' fits with the current and probably the future community 'style'? Look at all the boo hoo hoo about the Coulter Berry building in Fort Langley and someone thinks that this design rendition 'fits right in' with the 'heritage' of Aldergrove? Did this designer do any homework on the history of Aldergrove (which by the way would come in handy if anyone wants to achieve any continuity for the store frontages on the high street)?
You have an 'old' school on a street with a bunch of broken down store facia and someone thinks we should be building something that you might find in downtown Vancouver. I'm not opposed to mixing the old with the new, but this in my mind is just not working. The rendition of course is one dimensional from the street ...where are the trees, and fencing near the sidewalk (or maybe neither will exist). This picture doesn't give you any idea. Why can't the same facia of the old school be used? Why do we have to go to "star trek" for a design?
Why do we need a new arena? That question was posed a long time ago. Would it not be less expensive to do an upgrade to the existing arena? They would be within blocks of each other.
Maybe because I'm trying to reduce my expenses, I have to pose the question "why is it costing $1 million for a detailed technical study?" Really? How many studies have already been done?
The community wants a pool and a recreation area...gym, sauna, etc. We aren't asking for the world. We just want to have the same kind of services other areas of the Township receive, is that too much to ask for? We pay taxes too! Believe me, if you build it they will come, from all around, including Abbotsford, just a few blocks down the road.
Every time I see an article about this 'pool for Aldergrove' I cringe, because it seems to say 'no'. Let's make the building ugly, start cutting features, let's sell off more land (we need more money), it's too expensive to give you what you want, so that after a time it could and may come down to "sorry folks, it's just too much, it ain't gonna happen". Yup, Aldergrove Cinderella?
D. Atkinson, Aldergrove