Is there anyone who hasn’t heard that Surrey is welcoming 1,000 new residents each and every month? We all have.
It’s a statement constantly used by policymakers as a bragging point. It must, after all, mean our city is attractive and sought after, right?
But at what point does that become our failing as a city – not something we boast about?
The fact is infrastructure is not keeping up with our growth, and it hasn’t for years.
Congested roads. Jam-packed schools. Crime.
A recent Vancouver Sun article zeroed in on South Surrey. It’s one of the last neighbourhoods in Surrey that hasn’t succumbed to massive amounts of dense housing developments. That, of course, is attracting developers.
We urge our local politicians to pump the breaks. Slow down until we, as a city, can catch up.
Sure, council can pass the buck and blame provincial and federal governments for not keeping up. But they’re the ones approving these developments that are pushing our communities to the breaking point. We all know it can’t – and won’t – keep up at the rate council is allowing things to go.
Coun. Bruce Hayne told the Sun that South Surrey is inevitably going to change.
“If everyone is spread out on a quarter or half lot in all of South Surrey, it’s nice for people who live there but it doesn’t make it a sustainable community,” he said.
We ask Hayne this – what’s sustainable about a community lacking basic infrastructure?
The Now