Frankly Speaking

A large birthday party was just one of many events underway at Hawthorne Park on Saturday. Frank Bucholtz photo For those people who oppo se 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 communicati...

Hawthorne Park is popular with neighbourhood residents, as it is a quiet oasis in a very busy part of Surrey between Whalley and Guildford. Surrey council has voted to put 105 Avenue through the park, adding a great deal of traffic and cutting the park in two. While council has made its final decision, citizens who disagree can fill out a form to oppose the action through what is known as the alternative approval process. More than 30,000 forms need to be returned to city hall by mid-September in order to stop the council action. Frank Bucholtz photo In the past 10 years, Surrey council has become more and more remote from the huge number of people it governs. The last time there was a competitive election was in 2005, when Dianne Watts challenged incumbent mayor Doug McCallum and his dominant Surrey Electors Team (SET) which she had been part of. Watts went on to win and eventually corralled almost all the incumbent councillors, SET and otherwise, into the Surrey Firs...