Editor:

I feel I must respond to a Joe Peschisolido statement regarding Alice Wong’s commitment to saving the Garden City lands (Richmond Review, Sept. 24). He challenges her to deliver on her promise to support the Garden City lands, and laments we haven’t heard anything.

As a director of the Garden City lands Coalition, I can assure Mr. Peschisolido that Ms. Wong is indeed working towards saving this land for the best possible uses for our community. She had the courage to speak out against the proposed deal, and supported keeping this land for green uses.

This is a complex issue, and the delays have not been of her doing. If anything has caused them, it is the slowness of certain parties to realize that their vision of large profits from the destruction of viable agricultural land, while enhancing speculation on Richmond land that is left in the Agricultural Land Reserve, is not right.

The Garden City lands present a four-fold opportunity to enhance the quality of life in our community. The property represents an opportunity to strengthen and sustain our local food economy by providing viable growing land in one of the best climates in Canada. It provides space for the establishment of a training facility through Kwantlen to enhance the growing field of urban agriculture, capable of supplementing our existing conventional food production systems.

As well, by retaining a large area in its natural habitat this land can provide much needed greenspace for our citizens and local wildlife. At the same time the “carbon sink” properties of the land will help clean our air. All of this can be accommodated under the existing ALR zoning.

If the stakeholders involved in the holding of this land turn out not to be interested in taking advantage of these opportunities, then there is likely to be a time for the federal government to become more directly involved again.

Ms. Wong has shown that she is prepared to act if and when that particular stage arrives. At this stage in the renegotiation process, interference by our members of Parliament would be harmful. MPs need to prepare behind the scenes and observe the appropriate protocol. I believe that is what Ms. Wong has been doing.

Carol Southgate

Richmond