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N. Delta complaints still hold true dozen years later

Editor: Re: Mayor's daughter critical of ND, Aug.

Editor:

Re: Mayor's daughter critical of ND, Aug. 12 The article was based on an interview with Barb Jackson, the daughter of Mayor Lois Jackson, and comments by the mayor, regarding the current physical appearance of some neighbourhoods in North Delta.

For some reason those comments rang a bell with me, but I've been very busy preparing for my own candidacy for mayor of Delta in the fall election, so I didn't have time to pursue why the bell rang until now.

During my 15 years on Delta council, I kept an extensive archive of newspaper articles and buried deep in a file was another article taken from the Optimist in 2000 that was based on an interview with the "new" mayor of Delta, Lois Jackson. The following is a comparison of the two articles:

2000: New mayor wants to halt "decay" in North Delta.

2011: Something has to be done to clean up the woefully shabby appearance of some areas of North Delta.

2000: This is an example of how communities decay. We have time to turn it around but only if people have the will to do it.

2011: Something needs to be done to encourage absentee landlords to keep up their properties and not allow neighbourhoods to run down.

2000: Essentially elected by voters in ... North Delta, Jackson accepts that one of her major tasks is to turn the community around.

2011: The mayor admitted that North Delta has its challenges, predominantly due to an aging housing stock and a lack of variety. She said that solutions are being explored.

Both of these articles can be seen on my website at www.onedelta.ca.

After 12 years in office, the mayor and her family agree that little has been done for North Delta neighbourhoods.

That's one of many reasons I want to be the mayor of Delta, to concentrate on Delta issues, and get things done that are important to the people of Delta.

I ask voters to remember that on Nov. 19.

Krista Engelland