Where will Vancouver be if all the workers move away?
Jennifer Fox spoke volumes in her op-ed about her decision to leave Vancouver. Her evaluation of the current state of the city is also the opinion of most of the blue-collar workers who were born and raised here.
I am a 44-year-old plumber who has built many of the new schools, hospitals and residential towers in Vancouver. There is something fundamentally wrong when the people who build the city and the people who serve the city, such as nurses, teachers, police officers and firefighters, can’t afford to own a home or even find a place to rent in the city where they work.
Workers are forced to live as far away as Chilliwack and deal with a 90-minute commute each way, plus bridge tolls. Condos and houses in Vancouver are being boughtup at ridiculously inflated prices and left to sit empty while beautiful heritage homes that anybody born and raised here would love to live in are being torn down.
There is a political dynamic and agenda that is happening in this city and it stinks to high heaven. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and Premier Christy Clark are whoring out this city to the highest bidder and think that the people being displaced will understand because it’s good business.
Think again! People who have talent and skills and not just money are leaving. People with the skills to maintain and repair existing infrastructure are leaving! Hey, Robertson. It won’t take a villain like the Joker or Bane to destroy your city. It will destroy itself.
Dean Winter, North Vancouver