Sample Letter

Dear Ms. Vetleson,

This letter may be copied to any of the following, as well as others.

Dr. Martha Piper, President, UBC
Mr. Denis Pavlich, VP of External and Legal Affairs, UBC Mr. Johnny Carline, CAO, GVRD Mr. Hugh Kellas , Manager, GVRD Policy and Planning Mr. Ed Andrusiak , Manager, GVRD Parks Mr. Mitch Sokalski, Manager, West Area Parks
GVRD-UBC Joint Committee
GVRD Board of Directors
GVRD Policy and Planning Department
UBC Board of Governors

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I have followed the controversy over the UBC towers from the beginning, mostly via media reports, and in some correspondence. Despite my distance from the area, I have visited both Wreck Beach and UBC several times in the past decade. A university professor myself, I am aware of the value of both to the city, province, and country to which they belong.

I oppose construction of any towers to interfere with the landscape and seascape of or affecting Wreck Beach .

Despite having compromised slightly, the university built one tower beyond acceptable height, with insufficient regard and respect for public input or preservation of the unique international treasure which is Wreck Beach in its entirety. That includes bird habitats and flight paths, cliffs, foreshore, and other aspects of the area's geophysical nature and implications.

Independent research showed some of the damage that would be caused by the first tower. UBC denied it, while refusing to allow release of some of the objective data. After the eventual construction substantiated a significant portion of the negative prediction, UBC then used the first tower as a positive reason to push for more of the same with taller dimensions. That manipulative "logic" involved is deplorable.

Some time ago, I wrote to Mr. Pavlich about these matters. His reply to me repeated the university's position but ignored or devalued valid objections to it.

UBC will not endure significant hardship by heeding the advice and the solid, urgent request of tens of thousands of people to build in an ecologically acceptable manner, which ideally includes locating its new residential and meeting places elsewhere. Its current claim that cost overruns will raise student rents has not been examined for more than its political value. It reads as an excuse for bad policy. Regardless of their putative effect, any such overruns due to construction delays may be traced to UBC's intransigence from the time its plans were discovered.

Having already damaged Wreck Beach , it should not be allowed to do so further.

Dr. Paul Rapoport
Professor (Emeritus)
School of the Arts
McMaster University
Hamilton ON
Canada