The Editor,
Re. "Would having one city make sense?" (Letters, The Tri-City News, Feb. 29).
I have been interested to see recent letters from a couple of readers on the subject of amalgamating the Tri-Cities.
I have lived in this area since 1975 and have seen the idea floated several times with nothing happening. I also think there might be savings involved but let's keep in mind the initial cost of the changes.
Street signs on every corner would need to be made the same. Would we adopt the Coquitlam format and make everyone else change? Or would a new format be adopted and the entire region changed?
And what about addresses? In Port Coquitlam, the numbers run from lowest in the east to highest in the west while in Coquitlam, it's the opposite. I learned that the hard way the first time I tried finding an address on Victoria Drive (Coquitlam on the north and PoCo on the south). So who's going to change and what will the affected citizens think of advising all of their contacts that they have a new address?
Don't forget things like building bylaws. Each city has its own system. The process of reviewing and amalgamating these would likely be long, complex and expensive, and certainly not everyone would be pleased with the outcome.
I also think most who favour amalgamation over-estimate the savings in personnel to be obtained. Except for elected councils and a few senior administrators, the combined area would probably need a similar staffing level to what exists now.
Amalgamate? Let's look at the possibilities but not jump to conclusions.
Gordon Jarvis,Port Coquitlam
