The Editor,
Re. “Coquitlam showcases green for two Bloom-ing judges” (The Tri-City News, July 19).
This week, the city of Coquitlam competed in the international category of Communities in Bloom. I believe that as a result of this, both financial and personnel resources were funnelled from maintaining our parks toward this competition.
While I thoroughly enjoy living in a beautiful city, I have noticed that over the past couple of years, many of my local parks have been poorly maintained. Imagine my surprise when I went to Mundy Park last night and discovered that a parking lot that is not open had been pressure washed because the judges had been there on a tour.
I also have to question the resources used to have city staff perform a tractor ballet that was filmed by a drone. Judges were also wined and dined and toured by helicopter around the area.
At a time when both my property assessment and my tax rate have increased dramatically, I believe this is a luxury that our city cannot afford, especially if it is at the expense of maintaining our parks that are well used. For me, this is just one more example of a mayor and city council who are choosing to spend our tax money on things that are only important to a very few.
At the next election in October 2018, I will be looking for representatives who use my tax dollars frugally, just as I must do in order to pay them.
Yvonne Beckett, Coquitlam
