Kurt Langmann - Aldergrove Star

Kurt Langmann is editor of The Aldergrove Star and a Canadian Community Newspapers Association Silver Quill award recipient for his "distinguished service to the community newspaper profession." He and his family are longtime rural residents of the Aldergrove community.

Ghostly? It’s in his imagination

By Kurt Langmann - Aldergrove Star - May 08, 2008

It was good to see Township council following up on the Aldergrove Task Force report with last week’s Black Press news report on the task of whittling down the Township’s 126 recommendations for real action.

Certainly, there are issues that council can take a proactive role in remedying.

Like any small or bigger town, there are problems concerning drug abuse, crime and vandalism, homelessness, and the like.

More police resources and “smarter” use of these police and community resources would be welcomed by all the residents on these matters.

I am mystified by what Councillor Bob Long could be talking about, however, when he refers to Aldergrove as “a ghost town and it’s getting more ghostly.”

If he’s talking about business in Aldergrove, I think it’s never been healthier and more attractive than it is now.

My wife and I are empty-nesters now so we don’t need to frequent the Langley or Abbotsford big-box stores for pallet-loads of toilet paper, coffee, or whatever. But we can find anything we need here and we have a selection of stores to choose from that offer selection and competitive pricing.

As a matter of fact, when we undertook renovations of our home in the past couple of years we first got prices from the famous big-box stores in Langley and Abbotsford.

We discovered that not only were the prices better here in Aldergrove at the award-winning Otter Co-op, Pearce Home Hardware and Wilway Lumber retail outlets, we also received more knowledgeable service here.

Moreover, we didn’t have to put up with the traffic congestion in Abbotsford or Langley.

And since Otter Co-op also pays out dividends to its members every year we also received a fair chunk of cash back from our home improvement purchases from Otter Co-op. Gotta love that.

Aldergrove offers a choice of four major grocery stores: Canada Safeway, Save-on Foods, Extra Foods and Otter Co-op, not to mention the great produce shop, Hamilton Farms, and several top-quality delicatessens, pharmacies and restaurants.

Aldergrove has a great bicycle shop, Cranky’s, several auto supply shops, and the best prices on gasoline in the region. We have a Tim Horton’s, an Esquires and a Starbucks for our caffeine fix as well as Milsean’s for tea and sweets.

We have a plethora of fast food outlets, pizza places and hairdressers — so many that one wonders how they can all make a success of it. We have several banks and financial institutions, with Aldergrove Credit Union being one of the top in the province.

And realtors routinely sell new homes in Aldergrove for over half a million dollars, and this demand is still strong. Hardly the stuff of a 1930s dustbowl depression, is it?

My only complaint is that I have to go to Langley or Abbotsford for a good bookshop or music store, although much of this trade, especially music, has gravitated to the Internet in recent years, even in the big cities.

Aldergrove is a very desirable area to live in, and the prices of homes and the variety of goods offered here reflect that reality. This isn’t chamber of commerce boosterism, it’s a simple and true fact.

It’s true that Aldergrove Elementary School was closed due to declining enrolment, but a similar decline is happening across the continent, despite growing populations.

Which leads me to the suggestion that, since the government is going to make a killing selling the school property to developers, it would seem fair that the government returns the favour by investing those profits in building a swimming pool and public gymnasium complex at South Aldergrove Park, to complement the wonderful municipal sports fields and community facilities that make Aldergrove an attractive place for families to reside and play in.

That’s a reasonable suggestion, to my way of thinking.

But as for the “ghosts” that Bob Long speaks of, someone should tell the councillor that they are figments of his imagination.

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Ghostly? It’s in his imagination

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