My Commitment to Our Community

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I have been in White Rock since 2010 because I believed that this White Rock would be a great small town community to raise my  family.  Since 2012, I have helped various community organizations by donating my time and energy to help community groups get the word out by creating websites, Facebook pages, and twitter accounts for them. As I learned more about the issues, I created my own community pages to help educate the public, and learn from them by reading their comments and answering their questions.

I have spoken at Council Meetings and Public Hearings dozens of times. I have reminded Council that their Fiduciary Duty is to act for the benefit of residents and local businesses, not out of town developers and certainly not themselves. I have raised concerns about approving new towers without sufficient infrastructure or public support. I have raised questions about water quality and how increased development is making housing less affordable and pushing long time residents out of their own city.

I have watched as the Mayor bullied residents, cut off their mic, called in the RCMP to intimidate residents for stating their opinions during public hearings, and I have watch this council approve developments where 98% of White Rock residents who spoke, including a former Mayor and a former councillor, all objected to the project.

I love White Rock, but it has changed far too much over the last four years. This change has not been positive, and it is driven entirely by greed. I worry that excess development is destroying our city, that need for better infrastructure is being ignored, that our water is unsafe to drink with excessive levels of arsenic, manganese, lead, and glyphosate.

I believe our  beautiful city is being mismanaged and exploited, having gone from virtually debt free four years ago to now being over $30M in debt. Clearly all this development, and all the taxpayer money that goes into subsidizing developers, is not helping to reduce our taxes, but are increasing them.

Something in White Rock stinks, and it is not just the water! By voting smart, we can elect a council that listens to residents, local businesses, and responsible developers to create a positive long term vision for White Rock that works for everyone, not just a few. With the right vision, White Rock has all the natural beauty to become BC’s next Carmel, Cannon Beach, and Steveston all rolled into one. Can we fix this? Together, YES WE CAN!

Here are some of the websites that I run, or that I support within our community.

NoMoreHighRisesInWhiteRock on Facebook since 2012

  • Providing the community updates on what our Mayor and City Council are doing, both the good and the bad, and calling out their lies when they do. This site is concerned with the excess development that is destroying our community, and driving out local businesses, and about the lack of clean safe drinking water in White Rock, and that we do not have enough water to fight a large fire.

White Rock Safe Water Alliance on Facebook and website since 2015

  • Providing the community with specific information about water quality issues in White Rock, and the health impacts of our water’s excessive levels of arsenic, manganese, lead, and gyphosate, much of which comes directly from our wells that draw from the Sunnyside Aquifer that is being contaminated by run-off from local blueberry farms (pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers) and natural occurring heavy metals. Fraser Health recommended in 2013 that White Rock stop using its wells, and connect up to Safe and Clean Metro Vancouver water. Mayor and Council instead decided to keep using our well water because it was a “cash cow”. Since then, water rates have doubled, and they have spent over $25M on water treatment that has yet to improve our water. Meanwhile there are six valves along North Bluff that connect us to Metro Vancouver water. We could have safe and clean drinking water today simply by turning on those six valves. Vote for Scott, and I will make that happen because providing safe and clean drinking water is a city’s job #1.

NoCasinoSurrey website and No Casino in South Surrey on Facebook since 2011

  • When I learned from Terry McNiece that there was a large Casino being planned for South Surrey, I volunteered to help the group NoCasinoSurrey by becoming their official Geek-in-Charge of all their social media including the website, facebook page, and twitter accounts. I volunteering over 300 hours of my time, to run their social media campaign. Being a University PhD student at the time, I lent my research skills to the group, and combined with three other brilliant members of the group, we created a 47 page report to council on the effects of gambling on society, on personal health, and on the local economy. We presented our findings to Surrey Mayor Diane Watts in 2013, and to our delight we successfully convinced Council to reject the proposed casino.

The Impact of Arsenic, Lead, and Other Metals in our Drinking Water

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Want to get the facts on your Drinking water rather than political spin and lies? Attend this free talk, The Impact of Arsenic, Lead, and Other Metals in our Drinking Water, by Dr. Bruce Lanphear who is a respected Professor of Environmental Health at Simon Fraser University.  Brought to you by our good friend Ross Buchanan and Sponsored by The White Rock Lead, Arsenic, and Manganese Working Group.

37904306_10217099983957475_95084532914454528_o

Dr.Lanphear's Talk

Is White Rock Water safe to drink?

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The answer to that question depends on whether you ask a politician or a scientist!

During the 2017 Annual Financial Statement public hearing, Mayor Baldwin was once again caught misleading the public.

 

According to the city’s own records, if you can believe them to be accurate since Fraser Health provides no independent oversight, arsenic levels exceeded the guideline limit of 0.01 mg/L twice in 2017. And, according to the metal results, manganese levels exceeded the Maximum Allowable Concentration (MAC) guideline limit 31 times.

2017 Annual Report
In what can only be described as a poorly rehearsed scripted show, CAO Bottrill first claims that he is not aware of arsenic ever exceeding max allowable limits. Then Mayor Baldwin asks him to confirm that it never exceeded limits, and Bottrill echoed back “correct”, despite having just said that he was not actually aware of the numbers, and despite the city’s own data showing that limits have been exceed multiple times.

#VoteSmart on Oct 20th. White Rock deserves better and your #HealthMatters

Read all about it in the PAN by clicking on the image above, or clicking here.

Want to get the facts on your Drinking water rather than political spin and lies? Attend this free talk, The Impact of Arsenic, Lead, and Other Metals in our Drinking Water, by Dr. Bruce Lanphear who is a respected Professor of Environmental Health at Simon Fraser University.  Brought to you by our good friend Ross Buchanan and Sponsored by The White Rock Lead, Arsenic, and Manganese Working Group. 37904306_10217099983957475_95084532914454528_o

Dr.Lanphear's Talk

 

Thanks Ross! And thank you Dr. Lanphear!

Mayor Falsely claims Moratorium on future highrises illegal. Even the dogs don’t buy that one!

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Councillor Dave Chesney made a motion in Council to put a moratorium on future development of highrises in White Rock. As you may recall, Mayor Baldwin and CAO Bottrill claimed that such a move would be illegal. Mayor Baldwin and Bottrill are clearly wrong, and their claim of  “ultra vires” is laughable. It is not even a legal term. Saying it in Latin does not make it true.
Dave then amended his motion, to ask for a legal opinion on whether or not a moratorium on future developments was legal. Mayor Baldwin and his White Rock Coalition rejected this motion as well. Clearly they know that the Mayor is wrong, and a legal opinion would certainly say so, otherwise they would not block Chesney’s excellent request!
Of course it is perfectly legal, and if Council will not do what is right because they are beholden to developers, we the people still can. Sign Democracy Direct’s petition to put a moratorium on future developments, and you can make a difference.
Vickie and the Petition
Lots of taxpayers are wanting to sign the Petition for a moratorium on future highrises, including ones with fur at the City Hall today. If you would like to sign the petition you can go to democracydirect.ca where it is online or sign it at the White Rock Market on Sundays from 10 AM to 2 PM.
#VoteSmart on Oct 20th because who represents you matters!

Walking White Rock streets now a danger, senior says

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I spoke to many seniors today who have complained about how they have found it so difficult to walk along Johnston through all the construction. Three seniors have described how they have fallen and hurt themselves on the gravel.

Meanwhile, there are those who support Mayor Baldwin and his Condo-Coalition’s destruction of our city who claim that all this development is about making our sidewalks safer and that I am over-reacting.

Johnston Road Dangerous

It is laughable to say that this construction was about fixing the unsafe sidewalks. This is about greed, and having White Rock residents pay for that greed. The sidewalks were safer before the construction and there was only a small stretch that needed repair. Two seniors have already reported being injured in falls here during the construction.

If this was about safety, why did they rip up both sides of Johnston at once instead of leaving one side usable by seniors at all times? This is about rushing to get the development done before this council is voted out on Oct 20th. To get it done, they are doing it all at once so developers get what they need for their towers before we can prevent it.

If this was about sidewalk safety, there was only about 30 feet of unsafe sidewalk on the East side by the old Penguin Meats location. That could have been fixed at a fraction of the cost while also keeping seniors safe. This is about building water and sewer capacity for the new towers that the majority of White Rock residents opposed.

This project is costing tax payers $9M but the developers are only paying half the cost. Tax payers are paying the other half. We get only $500k per tower in development fees. In order to pay for it, we would need 18 towers along this three block stretch of Johnston. The first block is costing tax payers $3M and with three towers being planned here, developers are only paying half: $1.5M. That’s not right.

Mayor Baldwin’s response to Ms.Egger after walking the street himself?
” I will send a message to staff about dealing with it ASAP”.
Who then goes on to blame other councils, even through Baldwin was CAO at the time and was credited for getting Bosa pushed through council in 2005.

That’s not good enough Mayor Baldwin!
Good management accepts responsibility and would have planned for safe development from the start, not think about it as an after thought after people get hurt and go to the media.

A good Mayor would never have allowed both sides of the street to be torn up at the same time, and a good Mayor would have honored their fiduciary responsibility to White Rock residents, and not approved these towers that the majority of residents oppose now, and opposed in 2005.

This Council is to blame, and this Mayor and his Council must take responsibility for it.

Click on the picture above to read this Peace Arch News article and it is clear that safety for seniors is not a priority. Shame on Council! #VoteSmart on Oct 20th.

Johnston Road Destruction - June 14th 2018

City Council approves adding Chloramine to your drinking water, ignoring health and environmental impacts

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The City’s presentation on Chloramine isn’t science, its Fake News and political spin at its worst, because it adversely impacts our health and the health of our beach’s marine life while trying to falsely paint this toxic plan as a positive step.

The way to get rid of the brown muddy water is not to hide it with Chloramine, that is known to cause toxic health problems with humans (due to leaching lead from older pipes), and known to be deadly to marine life since Chloramine does not dissipate like chlorine does (Surrey tried Chloramine several years ago, and stopped once it killed all the salmon fry in the nearby creeks).

Don’t be fooled by someone telling you that it is safe to add more Chloramine to your drinking water because trace amounts of chloramine already exist in your water. That’s not science, that’s Fake News!

Blood Components - Science. It reduces the stupid

The adverse effects of chloramine that the city failed to mention in its presentation:
a) leaches lead from city and domestic plumbing;
b) destroys rubber and plastic plumbing elements (gaskets,
toilet flappers, etc.);
c) corrodes copper pipes, joints and tanks, causing leaks within
walls and floors;
d) showers burns the skin of those with sensitivities;
e) causes respiratory problems;
f) shower vapor causes anemia and other blood disorders;
g) adversely affects the immune systems of the sick and elderly;
h) has been found to cause leukemia;
i) is harmful to babies of pregnant women;
j) cannot be used mixing infant formula;
k) has affected thousand of children’s brains across the world;
l) effects on human health have not been adequately researched;
m) effects on city and household distribution systems have not
been adequately researched
n) kills plants and insects and degrades soil;
o) kills fish and other marine life;
p) is identified by Health Canada and World Health Organization
as a significant risk compared to chlorine;
q) cannot be removed by retail filter products;
r) removal requires an special and expensive special whole-house
filtration system; costing thousands of dollars
s) is neither required nor preferred by Fraser Health.

You can read more at the White Rock Safe Water Alliance’s website here

Chloramine in our Drinking Water?

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White Rock’s Mayor and Council have heard that people are upset because of all the brown water coming out of our taps since last December.

Brown Water - Kenya Anderson - Apr 18 2017
Brown Water - Darlene Jensen Feb 22 2017 - If you Live in South Surrey FB Page

So rather than fixing the root causes, City Hall wants to add Chloramine into your drinking water to eliminate the brown color. Chloramine is deadly to marine life and is known to leach lead out of pipes in older homes. Your drinking water will be clear, but possibly with increased lead levels. Nice plan Council!

This is a poorly thought out and potentially harmful plan!
The City Council tried to approve adding Chloramine last year, but later promised that they wouldn’t, thanks to the White Rock Safe Water Alliance and other concerned citizens who raised the red flags in the media!

Come to Monday’s Council meeting at 7 pm at the City Hall 15322 Buena Vista Ave, and let the Council know you think this plan stinks!

In January of 2016 because of huge protests and concerns of the citizens, the Mayor and Council voted unanimously to not use chloramine in the water system. Now with no notice and no consulting of the public they are already doing it and plan to increase the amounts. Read tomorrow’s Council agenda: it says that they are doing this for aesthetics purposes! What about the impact to your health? Many believe that Council is only doing this only because the muddy water might harm their election chances in 2018. Long term health impacts won’t show up until after the election, much like the details regarding the EPCOR purchase deal itself! That’s not right!

The muddy brown water problem seems to be related to the city adding Chlorine without proper preparation. But then, they have only been told by Fraser Health to do this since 2011. Unless we are talking about building another Tower, this council does not move very fast!

Adding Chlorine causes the manganese to precipitate out of solution, thus the brown color. This is an excellent way to eliminate much of the manganese, and it used by many cities. After treating with Chlorine (which is safe for humans and marine life), most cities who use it, filter out the manganese precipitate at the source before pumping it to homes. In White Rock, they have not bothered with the filtration step. Now to avoid complaints, they are planning to switch to Chloramine, which is not proven safe, can cause lead to leach out of older pipes into drinking water, and is known to kill marine life. Not a great plan!

If Council really cared about your health, White Rock would have been connected to clean and safe Vancouver City water years ago. Instead we continue to spend millions on wells laced with arsenic and manganese. I think that stinks. What do you think?

Email your comments to:
wbaldwin@whiterockcity.ca ;
hfathers@whiterockcity.ca, dchesney@whiterockcity.ca, mknight@whiterockcity.ca, blawrence@whiterockcity.ca; gmeyer@whiterockcity.ca; lsinclair@whiterockcity.ca; dbottrill@whiterockcity.ca, GStLouis@whiterockcity.ca; NoMoreHighRisesInWhiteRock@gmail.com

So why does White Rock City Council keep Approving Mega-Condos when Occupancy Rates are so high?

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Wonder why Mayor Baldwin and the Condo-Coalition are approving so many White Rock Mega-Condos even though vacancy rates have doubled since Mayor Baldwin took office in 2011? These projects are approved by Council with little public debate, and ignore strong opposition from the majority of residents. Why?

It is clearly NOT about saving trees as Mayor Baldwin claimed last December when Council approved the Elegant Twin 21 and 24 floor Mega-Condos on Oxford street. After last year’s Hump Clear-Cut for votes and the planned destruction of trees on Johnston Street, it is easy to see that trees are not this Council’s priority.

Approving Condos is all about making huge money for developers and speculators and their friends. Many offshore investors are flipping the same property several times before the building is even complete, creating huge profit for themselves and their friends, with no intention of ever living in the Condos themselves, all of which is pushing up prices beyond the reach for locals.

In White Rock, the Newport development on Marine and Oxford was apparently “sold out” a few months ago, but the on-site realtors are still showing display suites and now there are several MLS listings for suites in the development. However, the building is not even finished yet.
New Port at Oxford and Marine

Read the full article in the Vancouver Sun here, then decide for yourself why Mayor Baldwin and the Condo-Coalition have just approved 5 new Mega-Condos in White Rock in the last two weeks alone. It’s not about building a better community, it is a Ponzi scheme that’s destroying our community.

Here are some highlights from the article…

The presale market is the “wild west” of the industry, says realtor Steve Saretsky, who posted a blog post recently, titled “Vancouver Pre Sale Condo Ponzi Scheme.” Mr. Saretsky says it’s common that offshore investors get first dibs on presale purchases. Those purchases are assigned, or flipped, to local buyers at a premium. He says in recent months, as the condo market has hit a fever pitch, so too has the flipping.

Speculative buying is driving prices up, shutting out owner-occupiers and adding to an already unaffordable market. He sees buildings that completed long ago remain half empty. Many of the units appear on Craigslist or the Multiple Listing Service once the building is complete, a sign that buyers have already maximized the gains to be had.

“Obviously they presold them offshore,” says Mr. Saretsky. “They bought them three years ago, made a lot of money, and they don’t have any intention of living in them.

“If you call one of the developers, they say, ‘we are only selling to friends and family and we are open to the public next week.’ But what is friends and family? What is the definition? It’s basically offshore. And everybody in the industry knows it, and nobody likes to talk about it.”

Read Kerry Gold’s Globe and Mail article “Vancouver’s presale condo market reaches fever pitch” for more details.

bc-presales0421re01

 

 

Campaign Contributions in White Rock

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Ever wonder where the Mayor and Councillors get their Campaign Contributions from?

The information is available from the BC Elections website: http://www.elections.bc.ca/index.php/local-elections-campaign-financing/

In the 2014 White Rock Election Campaign, the Mayor and all White Rock Coalition Candidates received significant campaign contributions from Developers, whose developments were later approved by Council. Many people in White Rock have commented that this gives the appearance of Conflict of Interest.

can-we-get-them-any-closer-to-single-family-homes

Want to find out who donated to each winning candidate? Click here.

The Lack of Vision in City Hall

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White Rock’s City Council’s lack of vision is truly disappointing. The City has purchased a house on Vidal Street with your tax dollars in order to create a few more parking spots near the beach at the cost $1.4 million  of your tax dollars.

13529whiterock1156VidalStreet

Is this really the best idea that our Mayor and City Council can come up with? Do they have Real-Estate on the brain? There are better alternatives if only they would divert their attention away from Real-Estate and start listening to new ideas from White Rock Citizens.

We need leaders who see beyond Real-Estate and short term solutions.

I think a far better idea would be to partner with White Rock Elementary and the Surrey School district to create a parkade on their school grounds. This would inject needed cash into the school, level out their playing fields, and provide hundreds of new parking spaces near five-corners while also providing a needed revenue stream for both the school and White Rock, and also supporting local businesses.

We could tap into Federal Development Funds and get much of this paid for by the government in support of local economic growth.

Imagine several levels of underground parking under the school grounds, with their existing soccer fields placed on top of the parkade, making the soccer fields level with the rest of the school grounds. Our kids get better facilities, the school has a revenue stream, White Rock City Hall makes money, and local businesses pull in more customers.

Everybody wins.

To connect with the waterfront and those local businesses as well, a vernicular could be built from five-corners down to the promenade for about the same cost as this house on Vidal that City Hall just purchased.

Let’s elect leaders with long term vision that improves our community, not leaders who choose to clearcut our forests, berate citizens who offer alternatives, and who pave over our city with High Rise towers in the name of Densification and Greed.