Editor:
An open letter to Burnaby council:
I'm writing to you as a concerned resident of the Vancouver Metro area, as a Vancouver elementary school teacher, and as a colleague of someone with children attending Bryne Creek Community School.
My concern is that the priorities in both of our cities have tipped too far to the favour of rapid development and that the tragedy that occurred Thursday near Byrne Creek Community School, wherein a child lost her life, gives us an undeniable example of how far we've gone.
I'm asking you to consider what you're willing to let us, the residents of these cities who statistically are unlikely to be able to afford the residential properties being developed, sacrifice? When will it slow down? Only after our children are literally left for dead on the streets and the developers have returned to their homes out of B.C./Canada with their profits?
I know that this was a terrible accident and that there were many immediate factors that may have contributed to this child's passing (weather, traffic, etc). But I cannot help looking at the big picture as I pass dozens of students walking home from school crossing the paths of trucks just trying to do the work they've been hired to do. I see it on a daily basis as I cycle commute to and from my workplace (an elementary school in East Van) to my home (East Van).
I do not need a reply as I know you're busy, but I wanted to let you know that we're watching and we are aware. We see the big picture, the changes, and what is sacrificed as a means to an end.
We know our place in all of it but we also know that we are unwilling to let our children die for the sake of progress.
Elizabeth Winston, Vancouver
