Vancouver Sun letters to the editor for Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019
Credit to Author: Gordon Clark| Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2019 01:00:34 +0000
I agree 100 per cent with Kofi Obiri-Yeboah about hospital parking revenue. Cash cow and daylight robbery come to mind.
My wife and I, both senior citizens with frequent ailments that come along with aging, visit the hospital in Surrey. Often, when expecting to stay for about one hour, we will pay for two just in case, and then be out in 50 minutes but will receive no refund or credit for the unused time.
While it is profit for Impark, it is an added medical expense for patients with hospital visits.
Mike Crocker, Surrey
With regard to the steep and rather abusive hospital parking fees that are punishingly costly to those dealing with stressful health-related issues, it would be interesting to know what percentage — and the amount — are taxes.
Parking taxes are extremely high and a large portion of the fee. Removing taxes from fees would diminish the burden for the unfortunate users.
Jack Miles, North Vancouver
Delta Hospital has free parking and a great relationship with the citizens of Delta.
When the development of a 24-hour emergency ward was threatened many years ago, we stood together, eight people deep, in a circle around our hospital in order to draw attention to how important our local hospital was to the people who live and work in Delta.
After newspaper photographers used a lift from the ladder of one of Delta’s fire trucks to get great photos of the crowd, the plan to limit the hospital’s service hours was quickly changed. Parking at our hospital is still free.
Diane Kehoe, Ladner
You may not be aware that in the early 1980s, with the aid of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, a group of concerned parents succeeded in the removal of mandatory prayers being read in schools at the start of the day.
The issue then was not one of tradition, as mentioned in your article, but of one religious view or practice superseding others. The practice in the legislature is no different and deserves to be abolished.
Peter Munns, Vancouver
Why, on the eve of the federal election campaign, did Global News decide to run a story about federal politicians who use up the most air miles flying their families to and from Ottawa on the taxpayers’ dime? Western politicians are going to rack up more travel miles because Canada’s capital happens to be in Ottawa. If it were in Vancouver or Calgary, then eastern politicians would be using up the most family air miles.
The coverage seems designed to take a shot at some western MPs seeking re-election.
Gary Tupper, New Westminster
Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart wants to wrest control of Oppenheimer Park from the park board so he can heave out the people camping there, claiming that the city can handle the situation better.
This is the same city that still allows landlords to own and operate single-occupancy room hotels that are filthy, structurally unsafe, full of bugs, etc. The city has also for years given developers all kinds of additional square feet in exchange for money so that it can balance its budget without letting citizens know the real cost of maintaining the city. Instead, they should insist on subsidized housing being included in new developments in exchange for those extra square feet and reducing spending so that the realistic taxes property owners would pay could support it.
Diana Davidson, Vancouver
Every time there is a big windstorm, which are increasingly frequent, it costs us millions of dollars to restore power. Do we do anything about this? No.
We should be pruning and wind sailing our larger, older trees to reduce the damage from windstorms. When was the last time you saw your city maintain their trees?
We need to invest in the future of our trees by properly maintaining them instead of cutting them up when they blow down.
Bob Garnett, Steveston
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