Editor: The “listening” is lacking.
I am writing to respond to a news item recently appearing in The Times (June 24) regarding council’s “listening” to the community. As it is apparent that the fall election campaign rhetoric has started, I would like to counter some comments from Mayor Jack Froese regarding his intentions to seek re-election.
To quote from the article “Froese said council has shown it listens when people have concerns, citing the Glen Valley land sale which initially caused a furor, but ended with a portion of municipal land being declared a park, and another portion sold to Trinity Western University, and set aside as a conservation area.”
As a supporter and admirer of the Watchers of Langley Forest (WOLF), I find it extremely ironic and frankly distasteful to read that a new and more positive political “spin” has been given to the Township’s decision to remove all of the Glen Valley lands from the chopping block. From my perspective, council only chose to “listen to the people” when WOLF and their many community supporters brought the sale to the attention of the local, national and international media. This media assault finally forced the Township to seek a “compromise” which was still in play when the generous offer of the Blaauw family to purchase the Gray pit properties finally resolved the matter.
At that time, I strongly suspect that WOLF’s intention was to re-focus their efforts on the westerly properties that had been taken off the market. The McLellan Park designation was more or less a capitulation, in light of the threat of more embarrassing lobbying by WOLF.
In closing, I hope that this letter helps to set the record straight. I would strongly encourage voters to check the facts before November in order to decide who should be elected to steer the Township for the next four years.
David Denyer,
Langley