Surrey - The Editor, Re: "Adversity is exhausting our city," the Now, Jan. 9. The current chaos and violence across Surrey's streets has finally shone a spotlight on the chaos and confusion within our city hall.
For years, we have had a mayor and council single-mindedly focused on development. Coddling developers, rubbing elbows with the likes of George W. Bush and Tony Blair, and building towers and civic institutions in Whalley seems to have been their narrow focus.
Meanwhile, the fabric of our city has rapidly been denegraded and torn apart by crime. We are a city clearly divided along class, racial and geographic lines. I wonder how long it will take the 1,000 new residents arriving here montly to learn this.
Surrey is a war zone. You can build all the gleaming condo towers and civic facilities you want, but it is the reality on the ground and the social fabric that constitutes the overall success of a city.
You want to build a city, councillors and madame mayor? Build social cohesion and safety with it. Prevent crime rather than react to it. Get in touch with reality or get out of office. Enough is enough.
Ravinder Singh
Surrey