A new lobby group aimed at keeping Coquitlam's Riverview Hospital lands intact — and not developed for market housing — wants to turn up the heat as the provincial election draws near.
The Coalition for a Healthy Riverview already has more than 1,100 names to its online petition from supporters around the world hoping to save the 244 acres as a place for mental wellness.
Spokesperson Nancy Furness told The Tri-City News last week the coalition is still in its early stages and needs to reach out to the public and conduct more research. A meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday with the Tri-City GreenDrinks at the Gallery Bistro in Port Moody, where coalition member and horticulturalist James Bobick will speak about the century-old arboretum.
"There have been lots of people and groups over the years who have talked about saving Riverview but coming at it from different angles," said Furness, a Port Coquitlam resident in environmental sciences, "but there has been no single voice. We want to increase the power of our message by advocating as one group that includes mental health and heritage issues, and for the trees."
While the coalition is mostly backed at this time by NDP and Green party members — and does not include Kwikwetlem First Nation, which has a land claim on Riverview, or the city of Coquitlam — Bobick stressed the coalition is broad-based and apolitical. "It doesn't really matter who is in power: We want Riverview to stay in public hands in its entirety; that's what it's meant for."
Furness charged BC Housing — which is responsible for the site — isn't listening to the public when it comes to its visioning process. Its high-level master plan that was quietly unveiled in December 2015, at the same time Housing Minister Rich Coleman and Health Minister Terry Lake announced a transfer of mental health beds from Burnaby to Riverview, was "disappointing."
And she said more beds are needed than ever before with the ongoing drug overdose crisis in B.C.
The coalition plans to host a number of rallies before the May election and public events, she said.
Currently, the land-use redevelopment at Riverview is being done by Perkins+Will and Henriquez Partners Architects. Among its sub-consultants are: PWL Partnership (landscape architects); Dunster and Associates (arborists); Donald Luxton & Associates (heritage); Kerr Wood Leidal Consulting Engineerings (civil engineering); and Glotman Simpson (structural engineering).
• To follow the coalition's campaign, visit its Facebook page under Coalition for a Healthy Riverview, use the hashtag #restoreriverview for Twitter feeds or email [email protected]. The online petition, to be delivered to Rich Coleman and Terry Lake, can be found at change.org.
