Dear Editor,

[Re: Church housing approved, 91原创 Advance Times, May 7]

There appears to be one person on 91原创 City council who understands what it means to be an elected representative. Delaney Mack listens to people, and her vote against the approval of the Pacific Nazarene Housing Society鈥檚 development was wise and justified. One of the contentious issues that the rest of 91原创 City council blatantly ignored was the concern over increased traffic. Mack called for the project to be delayed until a study could be done and read out to the public.

Councillor Teri James should be reminded that she was elected to represent the citizens of the City, regardless of her personal views on controversial decisions. It feels like we are being talked down to when she says 鈥淚've been in a number of controversial decisions as a long standing member of council, and it鈥檚 never easy, but in my opinion, this is what we were elected to do.鈥�

When she cast her vote in favour of the development, did she think she was making a tough decision for the good of the City? Did it bother her to ignore the neighbourhood petition against the project? Was she aware that this decision would require an amendment to the Official Community Plan that taxpayers paid for? That is not what council members were elected to do!

Just to be clear, council members are elected to enact the wishes of the citizens who live here, not the wishes of potential citizens who might like to move here. Councillors were not elected to ignore the Official Community Plan in order that developers could wring out every last nickel of profit.

It鈥檚 no wonder Jivan Kumar is shocked and disappointed. His letter to the editor of the 91原创 Advance Times on May 7, eloquently expresses what many of us feel. I agree that local government decisions appear predetermined. The Community Charter facilitates this. 

Provisions in the charter allow municipal governments to pass bylaws, instead of having votes. Presumably the rationale for this is due to poor voter turnout. During the last election, 17 per cent of eligible voters in 91原创 City bothered to cast a ballot. One could argue that the mayor and council can approve anything they want and it doesn鈥檛 matter, because most of us who are privileged to hold a franchise don鈥檛 care.

I, too, would like to encourage the 91原创 Advance Times to dedicate space in the paper for community dialogue. It might help our local government, and our citizens if people like Mr. Kumar, with a background in educational administration, were able to communicate how civic governments function, and why it matters.

I hope it鈥檚 not too late. I hope the electorate have not become so jaded by the disregard of public opinion exhibited by the mayor and most of council that we live in a democracy in name only.

Richard Penner, 91原创 City