Dear Editor:
Re: Mayor blasts tax plan, Burnaby NOW, Oct. 12. It is extremely disappointing to hear that Burnaby's mayor voted against additional funding for TransLink's sustainable transportation improvements.
We know that by expanding the availability and convenience of transit service and cycling infrastructure, people can reduce their car use and ownership rates. The mayor laments the burden additional taxes will place on individuals. The private costs of owning and operating a car pose a severe financial burden on citizens.
By supporting additional funding to expand social transport modes, residents will save a considerable amount of money.
It is counterintuitive - pay more taxes to save money? But it is true.
These long-awaited improvements to regional transit and cycling networks come at a time of declining oil availability and rapidly rising market prices.
We must make significant investments in our sustainable transportation infrastructure now, so that we can maintain our mobility when it soon becomes too expensive to fuel a car. Council is prescribing to an outdated world view, a perception of reality that will not serve this city well in the coming years.
I am left disheartened at the lack of leadership council has demonstrated and incredulous at the ignorance of the fundamental change in thinking and values needed to support a profound transformation in the arrangements of our daily lives.
Gandhi said it right, "When the people lead, the leaders will follow." This demonstrable failure of our leaders necessitates greater citizen involvement in civic affairs. Make your voices heard.
Send in letters, emails, attend council meeting - whatever you can do. But do not be silent. Vote for candidates who share your values; and together, we can create a sustainable world.
Moreno Zanotto, Burnaby
