Editor:
Re: South Delta sleepwalking toward a transportation crisis, letter to the editor, May 18
Mayor Lois-&-Co need to prove the worth of their pay hikes by responding favourably to Malcolm Johnston's challenge: Not one dime for infrastructure improvements given as a freebie to TFN out of residents' taxes.
Wisely, Arthur Drive denizen Bill Vander Zalm, as Surrey mayor 40 years back, championed developers' land-use-contracts: no building permits granted without sewers, roads, curbs, sidewalks, underground wiring, ornamental lighting mapped out in the blueprints, as well as school/park-purchase capital in the bank up front. Offsets in-hand for predictable costs that lurk in the bush.
Surely with the capitalization sourcing TFN needs to underwrite its Tsawwassen Mills and Tsawwassen Commons grand plans, these infrastructure monies will be relative chump-change for them to secure too.
Lois-&-Co need to ensure that happens, no excuses or dodges allowed. That's why we pay them the big bucks.
W. Baird Blackstone
