Al Irwin - Keeping It In The Public Domain

The Langley Times may have censored veteran reporter Al Irwin by removing his excellent Opinion piece, so let's re-post it here to keep it in the public domain and accessible to the public.

From The Langley Times - Dated January 3, 2009.

2009 promises to be an interesting year in local Township politics. With the arrival of Mayor Rick Green, Councillor Kim Richter now has one member on council who sees at least some things her way. Both are outspoken in opposition to Kurt Alberts, who, time will tell, was one of the best mayors the Township has had.

Green, in his campaign, adopted many issues championed by Richter, most notably property tax increases, increases primarily necessitated to cover increasing wages (wages are 61 per cent of the operating budget) and new, full-time fire fighting staff, which Richter also championed, and which Green has promised to continue to implement. As one correspondent to Richter's own website noted, that's like ordering from the menu, and refusing to pay the bill. Richter and Green also take issue with airport lease rates, though Richter voted against lease hikes in 2001.

Green's concerns aren't restricted to taxes, and in his election campaign he condemned poor management of major projects, the water management plan, property deals (and there were some very astute ones for the Township's future), fiscal responsibility, commuter rail and the Robert's Bank heavy rail corridor.

Lengthy freight-train traffic through Langley Township is not likely to disappear anytime soon, and if the recent kerfuffle over the Langley Events Centre illustrates anything, it is how hard it is to get funds from the federal government.

Yet extensive work over the past four years by the previous council has secured funding of some $51 million from various partners including Ottawa, for a rail-overpass solution to the safety concerns (particularly for emergency vehicles) at the Mufford/Glover intersection.

That overpass, and its funding, could be in jeopardy since Green and some of his supporters are questioning the route through the ALR lands of Milner. However, the majority on council, those Green refers to in his campaign literature as "the silent slate" (a nod to Richter's website) and Richter chides on her website as the "good old boys," were all returned in the election. These councillors would dispute that they comprise a slate. And when you consider that one of them, Grant Ward, originally ran (unsuccessfully) on the same slate as Richter, the Langley Citizen's Coalition, and another, Jordan Bateman, also first ran unsuccessfully, on the Coalition's arch-foe and raison d'etre, the Langley Leadership Team, and Mel Kositsky served with aplomb and dignity as an independent throughout the Langley Leadership era, the "silent slate" label is at best spurious.

However, as Richter so plaintively pointed out in her inaugural speech, no one on council should be ostracized, though reliable sources say Richter herself has not spoken to some council members, including her one-time Citizens Coalition running mate, Ward, for several years, and her incessant barrage of website vitriol against the "good old boys" may have fostered more enmity than amity.

--Al Irwin