Forms to oppose Hawthorne Park road decision are now available

A large birthday party was just one of many events underway at Hawthorne Park on Saturday.
Frank Bucholtz photo


For those people who oppose Surrey council's decision to put a major road through Hawthorne Park, the forms which are part of the alternative approval process can now be obtained.
These forms need to be filled out and signed by those who are eligible to vote in a Surrey municipal election. That means they must be Canadian citizens, 18 years or older and have lived in Surrey for (at minimum) the past 30 days.
If more than 30,372 eligible voters fill out the forms and get them back to city hall by the deadline of Sept. 22, council will have a dilemma on its hands. It will have the choice of scrapping its plan for the road (which is part of its larger plan to build an LRT line along 104 Avenue) or putting its decision to rescind park protection bylaws relating to the park to a referendum. Neither choice is one that council members want to make.
A communication on Friday from Grant Rice, who is helping organize the process to get the forms filled out, states the following:
"Hi Folks,
I received a voicemail from Jane Sullivan, the city clerk, while I was out this afternoon saying that the package is ready for pick-up and online. Unfortunately I didn't get home before City Hall closing time. The form, is available online but it's not on the home page. Quelle surprise! Here is the link to the page https://www.surrey.ca/city-government/13723.aspx and the actual form. https://www.surrey.ca/bylawsandcouncillibrary/DCT_Alternative_Approval_Process_Elector_Response_Form_19337.pdf ." 
He went on to mention that Sullivan stated that the AAP packages would be available at city rec centres and libraries.
The group headed by Steve Pettigrew, which obtained 5,000 names on a petition against having the road go through the park, has said they plan to fan out in the community and get at least 35,000 forms filled out. That will be a massive undertaking in August, when many people are away or are simply not paying attention to local neighbourhood or other political issues.
As it happened, we were at Hawthorne Park on Saturday for the summer picnic of the Sierra Leone Association of B.C. The park is a very busy place. While we were there, there was a large birthday party underway, a gathering of Karen (a Burmese ethnic group) people for a traditional wrist tying event, a large gathering of Asian people (possibly a church or community group) engaged in many unusual games, and numerous other family picnics.
A traditional Karen wrist tying ceremony took place at Hawthorne Park, in North Surrey (between Whalley and Guildford, just north of 104 Avenue) on Saturday.
Frank Bucholtz photo

The people who were there enjoying the beautiful park are a reflection of Surrey's significant multicultural makeup, and it was great to see children of all sorts of ethnic backgrounds, skin colours, religions and other human differences playing together happily at the playground and enjoying the water park on a hot day.
Organizers of the AAP campaign may want to visit the park each weekend to let those who use it what the city has in mind. I suspect they will get plenty of interest and find many people wanting to sign the forms. As mentioned above, those signing the forms must be eligible to vote in a Surrey civic election in order for the form to be valid.
It will be very interesting to see how successful organizers are at gathering the forms. I wish them well - Surrey has no business sacrificing scarce park land in a city which is going to grow much larger. Nowhere is this more true than in North Surrey. It doesn't matter what the land use will be.
For those wanting more background on Surrey council's decision, see this Now Leader article or my previous blog post. 
 

Comments

  1. Unknown9 August 2017 at 13:40

    Hawthorne....now, even though it had by-law "reserved for park purposes"....next Godwin Bio-diversity, newly gifted to Surrey residents, carrying the clause "once adopted, the Bylaw can only be rescinded through referendum or alternative approval process. AAP was our loss in Bonnie Schrenk Park!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown30 August 2017 at 20:45

    Those involved in the AAP are there every weekend but can't possibly be there all of the time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown30 August 2017 at 20:47

      Oh and by the way the city says it is under utilized. savesurreyparks.ca to find Elector Response Forms.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bad day at Black Press

Image
News today that Black Press has voluntarily entered creditor protection and could be sold to a three-way partnership is the latest in a long string of bad news stories for community newspapers. David Black, longtime owner and founder of Black Press, is out of the newspaper business after more than 50 years. It has been a sad day for me. I have spent the past 46 years involved with the community press, mostly as a reporter and editor. I was a Black Press editor for 16 years with The Langley Times, retiring from full-time work in 2015. I am particularly saddened when I think of the many great people I worked with at various newspapers, most of them now owned by Black Press. Some still work there, some have retired, some have left this world behind. Community newspapers have been struggling to find an arrangement that works for them, as businesses, and for their readers, for the better part of 20 years. This became a particular challenge when smart phones, notably the iPhone, made their a...
Read more

Na Tigie Jawara - she was a rock to many in Kabala, Sierra Leone

Image
Bonnie and I paused for a photo with Robert and Na Tigie Jawara when we visited their home in Kabala, Sierra Leone in December, 2013. Their granddaughter Tigos, who has just turned six, is with them. Students at Kabala Christian School enjoy the shade under a giant mango tree on their school grounds in Kabala, Sierra Leone. Update: The Jawara's three children who live outside Sierra Leone (two attend university in The Gambia, and one is working in South Korea) are now on their way back home for their mother's funeral, which will take place Sunday. Na Tigie's death has had a huge impact on many people there, as she was well-known in so many circles and well-loved by many. Just under three years ago, my wife Bonnie and I had the privilege of travelling to Sierra Leone and Ghana in West Africa. Our daughter Christina (Chrissy) first went to Sierra Leone in 2008, when she was in Grade 12 at Fraser Valley Christian high school in Surrey. She spent most of he...
Read more

Capital parcel tax biggest culprit in massive Surrey tax increase

Image
Property taxes in Surrey jumped by far more than the 2.9 per cent claimed by Mayor Doug McCallum. The biggest culprit is the capital parcel tax, which jumped by 200 per cent for every single property in the city. This is steep - and regressive. Many Surrey residents are upset about the boost in their property taxes. Some say they have gone up 15 to 20 per cent - a far cry from Mayor Doug McCallum’s claim that they were only boosted a modest 2.9 per cent. Property taxes are complex although Surrey, to its credit, breaks down the portion collected for its operations quite specifically. Not all municipalities do so. The Surrey property tax bill also includes a significant amount for schools, as well as small amounts for B.C. Assessment Authority, Metro Vancouver and TransLink. There is no doubt that McCallum’s claim was misleading, right from the moment council adopted its 2021 budget. A 200 per cent increase in the parcel tax, from $100 to $300, ensured that everyone’s taxes would rise f...
Read more