Another Green Flip-Flop At Metro Vancouver

In today's Langley Advance hidden away online is this Letter to the Editor from Donna Passmore, a very vocal environmentalist in the region. Passmore rightly points out that Mayor Rick Green appears to switch his votes and ideas when he feels he is away from the local spotlight.

You may recall that previously the Langley Record has brought to light several inconsistent votes by Mayor Rick Green at Metro Vancouver meetings. The last Green flip-flop occurred when Metro Board members voted themselves a huge pay increase. However, before entering this meeting Mayor Green spoke against the pay raise and then entered the meeting and voted FOR it.

"On March 26, barely more than a year after the board (in pre-election mode) voted to keep Maple Ridge's historic Jackson Farm in the Metro Vancouver Green Zone, Maple Ridge put it back on the agenda."

"Mayor Rick Green of Langley Township (who ran on a platform of preserving farmland) and Gayle Martin of Langley City both voted in favour of developing this historic farmland."

-- Donna Passmore, Farmland Defence League of BC

While we have never heard any promises from Cllr. Martin of the City of Langley, we all know that Mayor Rick Green of the Township of Langley has been very vocal with regards to "saving farmlands". We heard much of this talk during the 2008 election campaign and of course Green's extensive musings during the Mufford/64th overpass debates. Green had vowed to "FIGHT" because he said he was "for farmers and farmlands.

The Langley Record also recently discovered that Mayor Green had an extensive voting record in Delta in the 1980's (where he was a councillor), voting in favour of development over farmlands preservation.

Trees at 208th Street Near 52A Avenue

A reader posted these comments under an old post and we thought we would bring her concerns front and center for all to see, instead of leaving it hidden in the March 25th subject post. As many know, there is a Tree Bylaw in the Township of Langley and we are not certain there is one in the City of Langley as we did not find anything on the website. Perhaps a Langley City Council member or someone in the know can respond to Melissa here.


Melissa Jerome has left a new comment on your post "When You Can't Have It Both Ways":

Today (May 11) at around 8:11 am, I was in traffic on 208th street near 52a Avenue when I looked to the left side of the road. As always, there was construction, but what caught my eye made me want to scream.

Years and years ago, my friend Semantha died a very tragic death and in her room there was a little potted tree. We planted this tree along the road she used to live, all 31 of her friends and myself included. This tree has stood for years and served as a private memorial to Semantha for us, even though it is just a tree. She loved that little plant and cherished it when she lived because it made her think of Christmas and happiness.

Not today.

The claws came down on our tree with ruthless speed and ripped it out of the hole we dug for it so many years ago, chucking it into the chipper. I started to cry and screamed something at them, but they didn't even look at me. That tree meant the world to us. It meant that she was always with us, through good times and bad. That tree has served more than once as a comfort, and now it is gone forever.

There was another identical tree beside it that was a bud off of the first, and that was gone by the time I saw the original one die.

Have these construction companies no mercy? This was OUR TREE. I don't care about billion dollar road deals, this tree was supposed to stand forever. We are all outraged at the fact that they would let the only greenery along this road that meant more than shade - two cone-shaped pine trees, no higher than an average man - die for the polluters of the earth.

I want answers. Why were these trees, and others along 208th, taken down, and why, when it was common sense to many people, did they tear down this memorial to our friend? This is getting to be like Avatar. All they want is a paycheck. All we wanted was for them to leave our trees alone.

Yesterday's Township Council Meetings

Our Editorial Board has now drank copious amounts of coffee with our Township Council stringers and here is what we can report on yesterday's Special Meeting of Council at 3:00pm and the Public Hearing Meeting at 7:00pm.

Apparently Mayor Green was absent for a family emergency and Cllr. Kim Richter served as Chair for the meetings. We hear that she did a good job as chair and appeared to be more diplomatic. Our stringers opined that perhaps the power of the Chair worked some magic. This is a good thing and it's too bad it is not the way she conducts herself at every meeting of Council.

Cllr. Richter did allow last night's public hearing participants to "cross-examine" staff which was totally inappropriate. All reports and information are in the ToL website and the public hearing is for SUBMISSIONS from the public - not cross-examination. The Chair also allowed members of the public to speak more than once, which is also inappropriate. We give her a B-.

From the two agendas there were only two issues that raised Council concern and vocal opposition. One related to the Mayor-supported Langley Airport Authority. Council felt that they already form that layer of oversight above the airport manager, therefore no further bureaucracy is required. Cllr. Ward (who is a pilot) declared that he's not willing to fix what Isn't broken. The idea burned down in defeat with a tied vote 4-4.

The other larger bone of contention came as Cllr. Richter presented a motion accusing Council of receiving a 55% pay increase (not really fact). She proposed that the current bench-marked averaging system (that was designed by an expert citizen's committee) be scrapped and replaced with Council reviewing and voting on pay increases. Several Council members spoke against "politicizing" the process and basically Richter's grandstand approach. Cllr. Ferguson pointed out that Cllr. Richter wasn't being much of a team player and this was "very disturbing" to him. We will reserve further commentary on this motion, as all members of Council addressed the issue well.

It is becoming increasingly evident that both Cllrs. Bob Long and Mel Kositsky are getting sick and tired of the folly at Council. Both are becoming more vocal with clear and concise opposition. We notice they are also moving away from more referrals of items to staff and that's a great thing. After all, Council is there to make decisions!

Overall a tame Council meeting and public hearing. Cllr. Richter did a good job of running the meeting and getting along with her Council colleagues for the most part.