To the Editor,
Re: City won’t step in to save land, Oct. 10.
I thought it was rather rich when Mayor John Ruttan referred, at a recent council meeting, to the people trying to protect Linley Valley West as “vandals.” In my view, bulldozing important wetlands, wiping out habitat for owls, and red- and blue-listed species, and trapping beavers with leg-hold traps is vandalism. But, in the mayor’s view, property rights trump ecological integrity and the public interest.
Apparently, all the talk in the Official Community Plan and the city’s website about environmental protection and sustainability is just that – talk. On the ground, it’s the same old business as usual. This attitude is what got us into our current ecological mess.
Don AlexanderNanaimo