The Editor,
Re. "Land sale is OK'd" (The Tri-City News, Nov. 9).
Re. School District 43's plan to sell a small parcel of land at Coquitlam's Parkland elementary school to raise funding.
We have all had the chance to hear about the funding shortfalls for SD43. The millions that could be raised by selling off public school property could go a long way in making many repairs needed for schools.
But the millions made by selling lands off could be used up in a blink of an eye when divided up by all the buildings, lands, programs and payrolls.
The hundreds of millions needed for new schools will not come from such sales. That rests in the hands of the provincial government that has drained its pockets on projects such as the Port Mann Bridge.
This is just more of the political foolishness we have to live with everyday in B.C. and Canada.
The selling off of public lands by school districts, then rezoning sanctioned by cities, and all condoned by our provincial government should not occur without a mandate from the citizens first.
This matter should be put to the ballot at one time. And not as part as a platform, nor at one school yard at a time.
I know democracy is really hard for politicians to swallow but let's let them know how we think.
I know I would want to see these green spaces saved for the future.
Should these lands be developed because our governments have gone billions in debt from poor planning?
Steve Mancinelli, Coquitlam
