The Editor,
Well, Surrey’s new city hall has been built at a cost that would have supported many villages globally for a year.
In an effort to justify the cost, Mayor Linda Hepner and friends stole the Christmas display from Central City Mall and the farmers’ market from the North Surrey recreation centre and moved them to the plaza at city hall.
SEE MORE: Surrey city hall opens after two years of construction
The city hall plaza is hard to access, difficult for a mobility scooter to navigate for the farmers’ market and not as convenient as Central City Mall.
Finally, several farmers’ market vendors said if the market was not restored to its original location, they wouldn’t come back. Unfortunately, the market has already lost several excellent, albeit disgruntled, vendors because of the inconvenience of the location.
The market has been moved back to the recreation centre but it’s going to take several years before all the vendors return and the public starts attending again in pre-city hall numbers.
Now all that remains is for the Christmas tree to be restored to Central City, where it can be enjoyed by all – and where there is plenty of parking.
The attempt to justify the cost of the new city hall has failed miserably – the plaza is useless for events. City hall is full of wasted space that could have been used more profitably – and is poorly laid out.
When the next election rolls around, I know who I’m not voting for.
Philippa Powers, Surrey
What do you think? Email a letter to the editor at edit@thenownewspaper.com.