Editor:
I applaud the efforts of Mayor Mike Hurley and Coun. Joe Keithley in steering this city council toward more humane treatment of the renters that remain in the Metrotown area.
I applaud the efforts of the Mayors Task Force on Housing and the ideas that came from that group. This is a much-needed step in the fight for the just treatment of tenants who remain in the Metrotown area.
I was in attendance at (this week’s) council meeting and I too detected a mood of fear and distrust amongst many of the residents who courageously spoke out. I perceived the source of this fear and mistrust was not being understood by the councillors in attendance. It is my opinion that most tenants who spoke to council that night won't feel safe or looked out for until all the task force recommendations are voted into law.
By allowing this review process to begin without having the task force recommendations being passed into law by council, Metrotown tenants perceive this to give developers a way to avoid having to abide by the recommendations; that is to say, it’s not law when we started this approval process so the laws don’t apply to these projects.
Please continue reading if you'd like to be reminded of where this fear and mistrust of developers and landlords comes from.
If you lived in a building where the landlord would not perform required repairs and basically allowed the building to rot and fall down around the tenants’ ears, you too would be fearful and mistrustful of landlords.
If you lived in a building where the landlord handed out threatening letters saying the building will soon be sold so you'd be better off finding a new place to live and then turns around and re-rents it at two or three times the previous rent, and then sells it to developers, you too would be fearful and mistrustful of landlords.
If you had to walk by demolition sites that looked like a scene out of a war movie on your way to work every day and know that this would soon be your fate, you too would be fearful and mistrustful of landlords and developers.
If you had to endure the reign of Derek "The Demovictor" Corrigan and his previous council (many of whom sit on this present council), who allowed developers to run roughshod and unfettered over the Metrotown area, you too would be fearful and mistrustful of landlords and developers.
Does anyone else see a pattern forming here? Does anyone else see reasons why the tenants that remain in the Metrotown area are mistrustful of those who wield power over them? The developers have all the money and all the power, and tenants, not so much.
Even after the task force recommendations are passed into law, it is my opinion that the phalanx of lawyers these developers have at their disposal will be poking and prodding and trying to find ways to push the envelope and see what they can get away with to circumvent the new rules.
Council members who might read this will think, "PFFFFT! THAT will NEVER happen. What's this guy talking about?" But it's the tenants that have been getting stabbed with the sharp end of the gentrification stick for many years now, so please forgive us if we remain a little cynical.
Metrotown tenants will be more convinced when we see some tangible results come from these new rules. Talk is cheap and right now all you've got is words on a piece of paper. We really hope you'll have our backs on this one.
Alex Operacz, Burnaby
