Editor:
On May 29, I attended a rezoning meeting at Burnaby City Hall. I have never witnessed so much security at city hall.
The meeting was well-attended, with every seat in the council chambers filled, and overflow seating and a video conferencing screen set up in the hallway.
I believe the large attendance was due to what is called a protest rally against rezoning in the Metrotown area causing demovictions.
I would not call it a protest rally, I would call it a plea for help in a crisis. Numerous speakers pleaded with the council members in attendance to reject the rezoning applications and not to raze the three-floor wood-frame rental apartment blocks and replace them with high-rises.
Councillors all sat stone-faced, listening to speaker after speaker tell of the hardships they and their neighbours will face in the zero-vacancy-rate rental market. Some of the speakers were still in their teens and other ages ranged all the way up to an 88-year-old gentleman.
In one of the heated exchanges, Mayor Derek Corrigan called the lead spokesman for the group the most obnoxious person he has ever met. Think about that for a minute.
The mayor also stated that in the near future the Lower Mainland is expecting 40,000 new residents. The speaker answered (he hopes) they know where to find thousands of millionaires, as it will cost them a million for a condo and there is nowhere to rent.
The 88-year-old gentleman called out all the council members for not having the decency to look at the speakers when they were speaking. The mayor answered he was taking notes and I will give him that, but I didn’t notice his colleagues doing much writing. They all looked like they were being scolded by their mum after being naughty.
Council had no option but to pass the rezoning applications, as all the applicants were abiding by the rules.
I have to say that I am not opposed to new highrise construction, owners selling the properties, or redevelopment in the Metrotown area or Burnaby for that matter.
What I find causing me sadness was people showing up at a Burnaby city council meeting and pleading for some help and no one on council taking the time to address them or offer some form of sympathy or a pledge to help them in some way.
In a crisis, people turn to elected officials for leadership and guidance - there was no show of leadership in that chamber.
Council has dug themselves a big hole, and they are showing no signs of building a ladder to get themselves out.
The Burnaby Citizens Association has been in power for many years, and they have made many good decisions over this time, but their biggest failure that is going to haunt them was going ahead with rezoning Metrotown without taking into consideration the effect it would have on the renters, the schools and the infrastructure.
As one speaker said, it’s just not affordable housing that is disappearing, it’s families.
The zero-vacancy rate in the rental market has pushed many people into buying condos to secure a roof over their head. For some, it will be a hardship trying to make the payments, for others it may be a blessing in disguise. I have seen this movie before and for some it will not end well. Ignore history at your peril. With a figure of 12,000 empty condos being talked about this last few years in Vancouver, what has council done to prevent the same from happening in Burnaby?
One of the speakers brought up the subject at the meeting. He noticed many unlit condos night after night while walking around the area.
If the 12,000 empty condos in Vancouver were rented to locals, I am sure we would not find ourselves in a rental crisis.
How many empty condos are there in Burnaby?
Let’s not let what has been happening in Vancouver happen in Burnaby.
John McQuade, Delta
