To the Editor,
Re: Auxiliary spillway option chosen for Colliery dam, July 23.
Colliery Dam Park continues to be threatened by expensive, unnecessary projects: an early alignment of the parkway was slated to go right below the lower dam, an unneeded waterline cut a swathe between the lakes, and the new water purification system took out even more forest.Now schematic drawings show a far wider cutline than admitted for a massive ditch connecting the lower lake to Harewood Creek, yet another useless, expensive boondoggle.
I understand that the provincial government has been embarrassed when our dams were proven to be structurally sound enough to handle earthquakes. But coercing council to approve spending your taxes on another hare-brained project seems to me to smack of petty revenge.
And that is why citizens are standing up for the park.
Dave CuttsNanaimo
To the Editor,
Re: Protesters planning to block Colliery dam remediation efforts, July 28.
Civil disobedience is an important part of a democracy and has changed society for the better in modern times. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi saw injustice that they were prepared to right even at great personal cost.
The proposed work at Colliery Dam Park does not rise to the level of injustice nor does it rise to the level of environmental impact deserving a response of civil disobedience. In many infrastructure projects which have intervenors there will be experts on both sides of the issue interpreting the data and presenting their side of the argument. In the end a technical board, judge, government agency or other arbitrator will be empowered to render a decision which one side may not like. That process may not be perfect but it is fair and democratic.
Protesting this spillway decision through interference with construction is not warranted and will cost taxpayers even more than has already been wasted on this project. Contractors will build in a risk premium to allow for delays. Police overtime, legal, incarceration, and additional city staff costs are likely to be incurred. Protesters should as a minimum create their own funding to pay all of these costs themselves.
Fred KardelNanaimo