Editor:
Let’s call a spade a spade.
I am writing to express an opinion regarding all of the fear mongering going on with regards to proposed development of lands in town that are considered green space, specifically the lots in Peaks of Grassi and the Old Daycare space in Larch.
The letters regularly being printed in the opinion section of local papers would have Canmore residents believe that the sprawl of Canmore is risking the loss of all green and wilderness space and that the beauty of our town is at stake.
What very few letters will detail is where the person writing the letter lives in town. NIMBYism is a phrase that is treated as if it should never be uttered, that it is somehow taboo.
However, I would suggest (and know for a fact for a few writers out there), that the majority of authors of these scary letters live on the doorstep of the lands being proposed for development. This is NIMBYism, plain and simple, although no one will admit to it.
People will come up with all sorts of reasons as to why they care and why it is something we should all care about to justify their position, all the while ignoring that it is the simple human reaction to the fact that we all resist change.
Someone wants to build a big mansion across the street: let’s resist because we will have to look at that monstrosity every day. Someone wants to build some affordable housing: let’s resist because it will bring the ‘peasants’ to the neighbourhood (sound familiar Banff residents?).
At one point in time the vast majority of us moved here from somewhere else, thus contributing to the housing crunch that this town now faces. For the majority of us, the house we now live in was built in response to the need for housing.
It is concerning to a lower income resident such as myself that these people would forget those facts and (now that it is my turn to have a chance at a new home), carry on about the variety of things they are bringing up, instead of just calling a spade a spade and say that they just don’t want it across the street from their home.
Things are brought up about how the changes in zoning will be the first of many and that we should all be scared, or that the wildlife will somehow suffer a horrible fate should the couple of acres of land they occasionally use disappears, or that the town is using this as a simple cash grab and that they don’t care about the citizens, or that the construction traffic will be a serious disruption and safety hazard.
Well folks, all of those things needed to happen to build the house you now call home. You need to remember that now someone else wishes the same opportunity. If you are looking for the nature that is seemingly going to vanish, perhaps take a walk for five minutes in a different direction.
Arron Peters,
Canmore
