The Editor,
Re: "White Rock moves to ask feds for rail relocation," the Now, Sept. 11.
It must be close to election time in sunny White Rock. One observes Mayor Baldwin desperately trying to refocus media attention away from White Rock's fiscal problems and scandals that occurred during his watch. He would rather have the voters concentrate on the lost cause of relocating the train tracks. Mayor Baldwin knows the only way to win reelection is to distract the gullible voters with a dog-and-pony show. He is very good at that.
The most important issue for White Rock residents is why they pay much more in property taxes than their neighbours in Surrey, but that issue is not an election winner for Baldwin.
I moved to the Fraser Heights area of Surrey 20 years ago. The train noise there is just awful due to a large marshaling, intermodal rail yard located on the Fraser River shoreline. I did not know it was there until I bought my house. My family had to start wearing earplugs at night in order to sleep properly. We complained, but the City of Surrey said there was nothing it could do, so we lived with the train problems for 13 years. We moved to the Morgan Creek area of South Surrey nine years ago, and we made sure there were no train tracks near our home.
Now, we again hear one of the options Mayor Baldwin wants is to relocate the tracks to the Highway 99/King George Boulevard corridor near my home. Dream on, pal.
You and the elites in White Rock knew the train tracks were there before you decided to live in White Rock. You made an informed decision to buy your properties with the full knowledge that the train tracks were there. Now you can live with your buying decisions, just as I had to do in Fraser Heights.
Any White Rock residents who are now unhappy with their informed buying decisions can move to another location, just like I did.
A. Rose