In response to the Mayor’s “will not remain silent” reportage of Friday, July 2nd, I submit that the Mayor was creating a “straw man” when he suggested that his City Staff was being attacked by the CLC. I assure you that no one, at least among the people I talked to, had ANY criticism of City Staff.

On the contrary, the criticism was that the very competent City Staff was not being brought into the planning and approval process early enough, particularly with the three major projects of the last several years that received Council approval and in one case, great Council enthusiasm and support, subsequently to be thwarted by a referendum, not by the CLC, but by a majority of like minded, concerned citizens.

No, Mr. Mayor, the CLC is not trying to buck Cranbrook development. But it was very disturbed to learn how the approval process seemed to be going down parallel lines, and at least in the case of one project, Mayor and Council handshakes seem to suffice for a project “go ahead” before City Planning Staff became significantly involved — this from the “horse’s mouth” so to speak. This created significant disappointment, suspicion, and concern by many citizens.

It is my understanding that Cranbrook is among the highest-taxed communities for its size in British Columbia, and with many of our highly paid industrial jobs being gradually replaced by service industry jobs, it calls into question our future ability to pay, particularly as our Senior Citizen component continues to rise.

Mike Rouse

Wycliffe