Sample Letter

 

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Donald & Peggy Zirbel

Canby, Oregon

Mr. Denis Pavlich, VP of External and Legal Affairs, UBC;
Mr. Johnny Carline, CAO, the Greater Vancouver Regional District;
Mr. Hugh Kellas, Manager, GVRD Policy and Planning;
Members, the GVRD-UBC Joint Committee;
Members, the GVRD Board of Directors;
Members, the UBC Board of Governors;
Mr. Ed Andrusiak, Manager GVRD Parks;
Mr. Mitch Sokalski, Manager, West Area Parks, and
GVRD Policy and Planning Department

Via e-mail to: judyw@wreckbeach.org

October 23, 2005

 

Dear Decision Makers and Stewards of UBC and GVRD:

Re: Marine Residential Towers.


We wish to express our disappointment and opposition over the current proposal to push forward with the construction of the UBC’s Phase II towers. As frequent visitors to British Columbia from the northwestern United States, we are dumfounded over the philosophy that seems to be driving the towers proposal. This decision not only conflicts with Vancouver’s reputation as one of the world’s most beautiful cities; it directly threatens it.

 

The natural setting provided by Wreck Beach, and the mouth of the Fraser River, are in part what bring us back time after time. And it is clear that we aren’t alone; it’s impossible to research tourism information for Vancouver without quickly coming across images of Wreck Beach and its tidal flats and green cliffs, with flocks of migratory waterfowl adding to the beauty of the wilderness. It’s worth an entire day at water’s edge just to watch an eagle with its young, soaring over the flats and adjacent land. It is admirable to find that such a developed metropolitan area as Vancouver also respects and values the natural beauty of its own region, and provides its inhabitants and visitors with opportunities to enjoy it.

 

Now, those same inhabitants and visitors are facing the loss of one of the very things that draws them to Vancouver and the surrounding area. Through ignorance, greed and short-sightedness, the world is losing its natural beauty at frightening speed. The United States is no exception, and it’s one of the reasons so many U.S. tourist dollars change hands in British Columbia and other parts of Canada. Ask the average U.S. citizen what makes Canada different from our own country, and the answer is most often “the natural beauty up there”. Vancouver sits at the top of a tourist gateway, accommodating over a half million U.S. citizens each month. Besides the loss of scenic beauty, the environmental destruction of the Wreck Beach area, as a direct result of the towers construction at their proposed height, is bound to negatively impact these numbers. Not only will the region’s natural beauty be forever marred, so will its reputation among the environmental and tourist communities of the world.

 

Once it’s done, it’s done. The time for damage control will have long passed, and the countless numbers of visitors who are watching the towers issue unfold will pass as well. We appeal to you to reconsider the long-term consequences of the decisions being made. Over time, the number of bodies that the towers are expected to accommodate cannot possibly approach the number of those who will find other venues in which to spend their tourist dollars and hard-earned vacation time. This letter speaks for two of those bodies, but represents many, many more.

 

Thank you for your consideration; we await, with significant personal interest, the final resolution of this issue.

 

 

 

Sincerely yours,

 

Donald and Peggy Zirbel

Canby, Oregon