The Editor,
Re. "Flinn survey says…" (The Tri-City News, Sept. 7).
Next Tuesday, Port Moody city council will be considering the following motion by Coun. Rob Vagramov: “That the road right-of-way bisecting Bert Flinn Park [commonly referred to as the David Avenue Connector] no longer be designated a road right-of-way.”
In his buildup to his resolution, Coun. Vagramov claimed, “The original purpose of the road right-of-way bisecting Bert Flinn Park [commonly referred to as the David Avenue Connector] has been abandoned." This is misleading, Coun. Vagramov — you know full well that you were talking about ancient history, prior to Bert Flinn Park, and that the David Avenue connection is alive and well in the current OCP.
As part of the reasoning to present this resolution, Coun. Vagramov claimed, "The community has displayed overwhelming support for the unification of Bert Flinn Park, as well as strong opposition to the construction of a roadway in the future.” Not true — the people attending the previous meeting were expressing their views, supporting one side of the issue. Thousands of others, particularly along the Ioco Road corridor, were sitting comfortably in their homes, confident that the current policy of council would protect them. That policy states that no new traffic would be allowed along Ioco until the David Avenue connector is complete.
The fact is that, until now, all we have are some comments from a group calling itself Save Bert Flinn Park. I have seen its website and spoken with the founder. I believe that, from the group's perspective, it is making some points that deserve discussion.
(For those of you interested, the survey titled “Ioco Road Corridor Resident’s Survey” was put out by that same group. Personally, I thought the questions were biased towards their cause and so did not partake.)
Who we haven’t heard from is the prospective developers of the Ioco lands. A responsible council will maintain the status quo until presented with the official development plan. Only then, when all the information is gathered, would any motions as to the future of the David Avenue connector be appropriate.
Sorry, Coun. Vagramov, your timing is off.
Gerry Nuttall, Port Moody
