To the Editor,
Re: Housing plan a terrible idea, Letters, Sept. 22.
I was intrigued (not in a positive way) by a letter submitted by E.A. Ashcraft.
The writer states that the Harewood project was “surrounded by bush” and “away from congested areas”. It is also right beside the very busy parkway and right by many newly built homes in new housing developments.
When was the last time you drove around this area?
Many of us have just been here over a year. Many of us chose to live here with our families to avoid the congestion of north Nanaimo and find housing prices that were more affordable.
We work, pay taxes and live law-abiding lives.
So what makes your area so special, E.A. Ashcraft, that this needs to happen in my neighbourhood, but not yours?
Every time I turn around, I hear stories of people who have been broken into.
First of all, these law breakers do not have the constraints of a job, and they are really not required to be anywhere at any given time, so when we go out to earn our living, they have the free time to steal anything that we work to provide ourselves with.
Really fair, isn’t it?
Second, if we truly cared about them (and I do) we would not enable them in their self-destructive tendencies.
We would help them properly, not help them dig a bigger hole for themselves. If they are breaking the law, arrest them. Take them into rehab. If it takes, good, if not, do it over and over again, but do not provide them with a way to make everyone’s life miserable.
More crime, fewer law-abiding citizens feeling safe in their own communities. And who do we think foots the bill for all of this?
No more of these places should be built. This money needs to be spent on dealing with these issues effectively. Who came up with these ideas anyway?
We should have built a housing project in your backyard, just to test it out and make certain it works before we built it in mine.
Lee Masciarelli
Nanaimo