The Editor,
Re. "Pressure's on to develop" (The Tri-City News, Aug. 24).
The word "parking" was mentioned several times in the article about Evergreen Line proposals.
Allowing high-density living that requires high-density parking is incongruent with the idea of improving transit by way of the Evergreen Line. The last thing Coquitlam needs is more vehicles.
The Evergreen Line website states: "The Evergreen Line will relieve congestion and improve air quality." How is adding thousands of more people with vehicles going to achieve this goal?
Coquitlam is not doing a good job of handling the present volume of traffic, never mind inviting more. Long-established neighbourhoods are already subject to unchecked speeding and exceedingly high volumes directly caused by all of this "pressure to develop." Residential roads have morphed into freeways.
I have no reason to expect expertise in traffic management will improve over its present state.
If all of our residential taxes and levies have gone towards a good transportation plan by TransLink, surely no new parking spots would be required.
This development is touted as being walking distance to both amenities and a world-class transportation system. I do not want more cars speeding down my street. Will there be room left for ample parking around the Evergreen Line stations so that all of us who paid for it will be able to take a short vehicle ride and make use of it? Or will there be no access for current residents due to "development" and associated reserved parking?
I would like to see more pressure at election time to maintain the quality of life we came here for in the first place.
The extra income from taxes on all this development does not seem to translate into savings for residents, only higher budgets for city hall.
The "pressure" applied by us lowly, long-term, taxpaying residents pales in comparison to luncheons and PowerPoint presentations by highly rewarded industry lobbyists - except at the polls.
Ken Holowanky, Coquitlam
