The Editor,
I am personally appalled at what I saw the other day with the installation of a fence at the West Beach boat launch in White Rock.
I use that access point frequently to access the beach with my paddle board, as do many friends and acquaintances with their boards and kayaks.
The beach is what makes White Rock, White Rock! When that is stripped away, what is left in this city? The beach is why people move to White Rock - it is our playground.
You can blame whomever you want for the blocking off of the access point along West Beach: BNSF, Transport Canada, etc. but I mostly blame the City of White Rock itself for not standing up stronger for its citizens and visitors. They must remember that they are supposed to be representing us.
Are there no other solutions than barring-off the entire beach? Could we not have a city employee direct traffic across the tracks in different locations as they do at crosswalks adjacent to schools until they install a controlled crossing? I hope the people of White Rock and our beloved visitors rise up against what is occurring, and act. This is the people's time to make their voice heard and stop being so proper and polite about everything that affects them.
The garbage strike didn't cause too much uproar, as most people just threw their garbage in Surrey dumpsters or had a private company pick up their garbage while the strike lasted. If this were Europe, everyone would have thrown their garbage on the city hall steps until the problem was resolved.
The City of White Rock understands that people won't normally act out and stop being model citizens, so this time with the West Beach access closures, let's surprise them and tell them what we really want and demand - for them to resolve this issue and remove the fence!
Claude Cartelier, White Rock