The Editor,
Re: "Ticketing cancer patients is simply heartless," the Now letters, Jan. 8. I am empathetic with Gordon Botha's plight over parking. I am also in a battle with cancer and I too experienced difficulty with parking enforcement. On one occasion the officer wrote me a ticket while I was standing in line to pay for parking.
However, the worst frustrations stem from the many times the old-style meter did not work. I figured the malfunctions cost me about $20 in one year.
When I called the City of Surrey, they gave me the number of a private company that
repairs parking meters. When I contacted that company, they referred me back to the city. When I called the city back the person on the phone said, 'It is only $20.' All I have to say is, wait until you have an aggressive cancer the size of a roast beef in you and see how important $20 is to you.
When I wrote the mayor's office, I received no response.
How odd it is that when the Vancouver Sun machine took my $2 and did not give me a paper, or the Friday paper did not have the TV Guide in it, the Sun mailed me $2.
Robert Loeffler
Surrey