On April 20, 2007, an impromptu community meeting was held at the McGill Library to address concerns about the quick purchase by BC Housing of properties at 204 Alpha and 205 Beta Ave(s), as part of an $80 million purchase of 15 properties that, according to what was released to the media, were to house single, hard to house residents mostly from the downtown east side.
After many calls to BC Housing, MLAs Richard Lee and John Nuraney, and several other BC Government offices, many local residents were left feeling nervous by the lack of concrete information available about what BC Housing's real intent was regarding exactly how these properties would be used both in the near term and closer to the Winter Olympics.
Many of us were left with an overall feeling of fear that our park, elementary school, community and seniors centers might be exposed to the crime & drug use that are generally associated with the downtown east side. A number of residents from Block Watch, The Capital Hill Community Assoc., Members from the Confederation Park Elementary school and representatives from the units themselves, formed a group called the Confederation Park Concerned Citizens Coalition, with the intent of unifying the neighborhood to fight for not only answers from BC Housing regarding their immediate and future plans for the properties, but also to ensure that our families, neighbors, children and elders are not put in harms way as a result of who may be eventually moving in to these above units.
Despite only 5 days of organization time, an estimated 450 people showed up at a meeting at McGill Library on April 20th.
Mr. Richard Lee, and 2 representatives from BC Housing, Mr. Darin Froese and Mr. Craig Crawford also showed up. While some questions were answered, many attendees were left with more unanswered questions, and the two BC housing reps agreed to attend another formal community meeting at a later date, where specific questions could be answered.
If you are feeling let down by your government due to the secrecy surrounding the purchase of these two units, now is your chance to be heard! The Olympics are coming and the general feeling is that they don’t want a “black eye” in Vancouver. WHAT IS THE REAL AGENDA?
The number of community members who showed up at the initial meeting only got the ball rolling, and now we must help continue to fight to protect the integrity of our community.
Representatives from BC Housing, the Provincial Government and The City of Burnaby have been invited and confirmed to a Public Town Meeting at Alpha Secondary High-School (Gym), at 4600 Parker Street, Burnaby, on Thursday, May 24th at 7 PM.
We would like very much for you to attend and HAVE A CHANCE TO HEAR YOUR VOICE HEARD. Residents from the area will be given a chance to have their individual questions posed and addressed by the appropriate officials. We would like everyone to attend and support the rally to PRESERVE OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD!
Sincerely, The Confederation Park Concerned Citizens Coalition.
For further information on the issue and to download petitions and other relevant information, please visit http://confedparkcoalition.blogspot.com/
