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City is treating Riverside residents with 'disdain'

Dear Editor: The Riverside area has become an environmental dumping ground. Dumped bodies, garbage, chemicals, drug paraphernalia, noise and fires - all of which add to the environmental degradation of the small, enclosed community. Mr.

Dear Editor:

The Riverside area has become an environmental dumping ground. Dumped bodies, garbage, chemicals, drug paraphernalia, noise and fires - all of which add to the environmental degradation of the small, enclosed community.

 Mr. Corrigan and council fight for the obvious political benefits opposing Kinder Morgan and thereby appear as mindful stewards for Burnaby, B.C. and Canada. But they fail to provide the same sort of mindful stewardship for the small community of Riverside. The Burnaby council fight against Kinder Morgan is in fact an environment battle but is a side issue to the real aim, which is to also fight for  the provincial NDP - which cannot do anything meaningful other than to bluster. 

 When it comes to the daily environmental degradation of Riverside, Mr. Corrigan and his council ignore these issues.

 Why? I know that we are not a significant area in size or income to the city.  We do not generate a lot of income to the city coffers, we have maintenance requirements because we are on peat soil, and we are classified as A2 land. But, as A2 land, some of the residents are valuable agricultural providers of greens to restaurants and stores and help to depress food costs for everyone from approximately April to September. And who does not like our nurseries that are loaded with great flowers and plants? We are a valuable ratrunning route for commuters who want to get to 20th Street in New Westminster to head to all of the bridges. We have poor lighting, which leads to unsafe pedestrian and vehicular safety.  We have poor road conditions because of about 30 years of neglect.

We suffer the environmental and safety issues to property and lives of residents from registered and non-registered grow-ops and meth labs. We have daily, people dumping their trash on our streets, on city property, the old foundry, the old Riverside school, and along other streets and culverts.  All city property.

Perhaps the city and council have greater plans for our area, which may be a strategy of neglect and degradation so as to facilitate the rezoning so as to build more Market Crossings, and light industry to increase the tax base?

We have environmental issues to be dealt with today, yet we are treated with neglect and disdain as our environmental degradation does not generate an opportunity for great publicity. We are pay taxes and in exchange receive environmental degradation, disdain and disrespect from our city.

Frank Mesich, Burnaby