Dear Editor, (Sent to the AV News on May 20, 2022)
I read with great interest your report from the Burde Street Ponds townhall. I regret I was unable to attend as I share the deep concern of the community. I am left with a question. In 2022, why are we still valuing and pursuing the destruction of cherished natural spaces when we know the benefits that restoration, rebuilding and renewal can bring?
What if instead of continuing the failed development policies of the past by stretching subdivisions into critical and endangered habitat at the Burde Street ponds, we (the City, San Group, and community) redirect that energy and millions of dollars of investment to restoring the Dry Creek estuary by removing the industrial infill at the Somass Mill and railway lands so Dry Creek can run into a restored estuary and natural shoreline and focus redevelopment, housing and renewal on a new, natural, and cherished, lower 3rd and Kingsway Avenue?
If your readers are interested in this idea, they can go to www.avtransitiontown.org/restoredrycreek.
Sincerely,
Chris Alemany
(President of Alberni Valley Transition Town Society)