[All] FW: "Region fights dirty in losing battle over development" (Aug. 22, p. A11)

[Susan Bryant]

I agree, Eleanor. I think you should send it, Greg, for all her reasons.

Susan B.

From: Eleanor Grant 
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 1:19 PM
To: Gregory C. Michalenko 
Cc: all at gren.ca 
Subject: Re: [All] FW: "Region fights dirty in losing battle over development" (Aug. 22, p. A11)

Greg, I think you should still send it.  People need to hear things more than once!  And you make quite different points from the other letter-writer.

Since some time has passed you might need a sentence or 2 to remind folks what it's about.  But the issue is definitely not stale!

Cheers, 

Eleanor


On Aug 27, 2013 1:12 PM, "Gregory C. Michalenko" <gcmichalenko at uwaterloo.ca> wrote:



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  From: Gregory C. Michalenko
  Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2013 9:26 AM
  To: letters at therecord.com
  Subject: re: "Region fights dirty in losing battle over development" (Aug. 22, p. A11)
  Der Grenlings, 

  I sent this prospective letter-to-the-editor to the Record just before rushing off for a few days up north.  When I returned, I was anxious to see if it got printed -- and discovered it hadn't because I had forgotten to include my phone number for verification.  Meanwhile, another good letter bringing up the same points had been published, so i decided to forget about mine, since it was now stale.  But here it is 4 Gren Only.
  - Greg

  Der Editor: 

  Columnist Peter Shawn Taylor is being disingenuous when he claims that the Region of Waterloo "fights dirty" in taking a group of developers to court over an OMB ruling.  He makes a pitch for sentimentality in stating  that these developers have a better idea of what seniors want in their retirement years than the Region's professional staff.

  I'm suspicious of the motivations of the group opposed to the Region.  These are not your farmer Johns or descendants of long-time farm families that have nurtured their land for generations.  Rather they have names such as 1441179 Ontario Ltd., Lea Silvestri Investments Ltd., and Northgate Land Corporation.  Clearly these are land speculators whose main interest is profits, and not assisting the Region and cities to improve the way we add housing for our growing population.

  One of the appellants to the OMB is Activa, whose masthead on their web site trumpets "We are a land development Company that turns vacant* land into communities" (italics mine).  I'm sure our farmer friends are delighted to learn what a wonderful friend they have in Activa which  can't even see that farms and agriculture exist beside our cities.  

  For some strange reason a street has been named after Activa in one of the cities.  If we were interested in reflecting reality we should rename it "Bully Boulevard".  

  Greg Michalenko

  *   NB:  please put the word "vacant" in italics

  53 Menno at
  Waterloo
  N2L 2A6

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