On Friday, we reported the news that Burnaby City Hall will be moving, as the city has announced its plans to relocate city hall to Metrotown.
We asked what readers thought of the idea — and readers had a few things to say. Here’s a sampling of some of the letters we received:
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Why? The reason given makes no sense since a city hall is an administrative place for the whole of the community. The present location is in the centre of Burnaby and has convenient major transportation paths for access, especially for employees of the city.
The Metrotown area is already a congested traffic mess and will likely become more so if all the projected towers are to be built.
It would be more appropriate for the present and the future if the city hall remains in the same location and is rebuilt according to sustainability standards and is designed to accommodate all the departments that are necessary to be centrally located.
If there are other reasons why Metrotown is a proposed location, hopefully, the mayor and council will openly discuss the reasons before their decision is made.
June Kawaguchi
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Waste of money! The present one is OK where it is.
Why bring in more buildings and traffic congestion to Metrotown? Very little thought attached to the proposal. I wonder if the mayor or any councillors live in Metrotown — maybe zero.
Mike Bird
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New city hall is a great idea. In the Metrotown area, however, we have the ongoing problem of parking, because the towers continue to be built in the Metrotown neighbourhood. Almost too many now.
There is no parking left other than at the mall which is limited, and only enough for the mall. All other streets have been metered, which are not a problem, but with us having a SkyTrain at Metrotown, everyone uses those meters to park and catch the train.
Did you look at the old Safeway site at Royal Oak and Kingsway?
Judy Hollingsworth
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I don’t think that City of Burnaby needs a brand new building. The current building is located close to Highway 1, easy access. Metrotown area is more busy, harder access to there.
Ivan Ivankovic
📢 SOUND OFF: What do you think of the idea of a new Burnaby City Hall in the Metrotown neighbourhood? Should city hall stay where it is? Or does a move make sense? Share your thoughts — send us a letter.
