The Editor,
Re. "Develop or protect - what to do with the Riverview Hospital lands?" (Face to Face, The Tri-City News, July 13).
Now that Riverview Hospital is officially closed, let's bulldoze the old stone buildings and declare that the Riverview lands will remain publicly owned, with a public heritage botanical garden and as the campus for a new, modern, integrated mental healthy university and teaching hospital. This institution would provide state-of-the-art, high-quality mental health care and localized services as well as explore advanced mental health clinical techniques and research.
The university would be surrounded by nurses' residences and affordable housing for the mentally ill, the disabled and the deserving poor - unemployed, fallen on hard times, with families, yet trying to educate themselves - just to support themselves and their families and move on in life.
Andrew Brown, Coquitlam
