Handledpoorly?

Editor:

Re: Mental health crisis was handled poorly (Optimist, letters, Feb 2)

I must surmise from this missive that the individual in crisis was not one of the author’s relatives.

The mental health crisis of the stranded commuters figures most prominently in the piece and even that of abandoned vehicles, but not that of the man on the edge

A suggestion was made to allow some traffic to pass by the active incident. Sure that none of these tormented individuals would have taken out their frustration by honking a horn or yelling? What would be your calculus for this situation? The number of frustrated drivers times inconvenience level times number of hours in traffic equals one life? Where would the tipping point be?

Handled poorly? The Delta Police handled this precarious situation in a remarkable manner, with calm good judgement From my limited interaction with the DPD, I believe we have the finest police department there is Perhaps the author will put her name forward for a position on the Delta Police Board, either appointed by Delta council or the Lieutenant Governor I am sure we would benefit from her input

Brad Brush

We are drowning in mud

Editor:

I read with interest two articles in a recent edition of the Optimist relating to dredging and a provincial flood strategy

Both articles refer to the homes and businesses located in the secondary channels of the Fraser River that are now severely impacted by sediment or silt.

Twenty million tonnes of sediment wash down the Fraser annually as it drains one quarter of the province

In the 1990’s Transport Canada built diversions in some of the main channels of the lower Fraser River to divert water into the navigational channels to provide for larger ships and save on dredging costs

An unfortunate result of those diversions has been that secondary channels, such as Ladner Reach, Canoe Pass, and Annacis Channel have become inundated with silt that dramatically decreases water depths, making it impossible for boats to get safely in and out of marinas and fish packing plants, and threatens the very existence of the many float home communities located in these waters Despite years of telling this story and lobbying multiple levels of municipal, provincial and federal governments, we are again in a situation where there is no funding available to homes and businesses trying to survive in these secondary channels In Canoe Pass, where I live, we are drowning in mud

The Port argues that the dredging of secondary channels is not their responsibility

Their financial contributions to secondary channel dredging have been occasional, onetime efforts that require additional levels of government to come to the table

The last tranche of funding ran out in 2015 and our businesses and homes are again at risk When are we going to come to our senses and create an annual maintenance dredging fund for secondary channels that will protect our investments in these important communities of the lower Fraser region?

Jane Fee

Column comments better served by city hall

Editor:

As a senior and resident of Ladner for over 40 years I take exception to Ingrid Abbott’s column (Optimist, Feb. 2) about the fact that anyone over 60 should face the fact that the future may not cater to our dreams, implying that seniors are against development.

I am a senior and I fully support development so that my children are able to live in an area such as Ladner, however I do not want to destroy the community and my way of life especially in Ladner with its unique downtown core.

How many other communities do you know that have a central core for shopping with easy access to most amenities such as library, community centre, senior centre, theater etc ?

The development of the waterfront would further enhance our community. How many years has it been since the City of Delta bought some of the waterfront properties?

I believe her comments are targeted towards the development of the Dunbar Lumber property. What would that do to our community? Only provide high cost rentals and increase our tax base. It would however change the dynamics of the community core and significantly increase traffic flow and parking problems

Her comments would be better served if she directed them to the City of Delta regarding re-zoning, development costs to allow for the development of lower cost rentals and housing and not seniors.

Bill Popovic