Editor:
First off, I'd like to say that I have long admired the Quay boardwalk gardening concepts and skill; it is a pleasure to see the different sculptures appear throughout the seasons. Clearly the designer is a skilled garden with a passion for unique and interesting scenes. The boardwalk is just that, a walking path where safety from cars is not an issue and artistry is welcome.
However, carrying this vision into Queen's Park parking area is a nightmare and a safety issue for the families and users of the varied facilities in the park. The users of the new sports arena, skate park and soccer field are routed down a one-way drive, past the baseball field, past the park's soil and debris dumping ground, out past the Bernie Legge Theatre onto a roundabout — where it is impossible to see traffic coming in from McBride Boulevard, by the way, because there are vehicles parked all along the exit road on the right.
Once on the roundabout, the pedestrians coming from the arena are put in peril for their lives as the drivers attempt to get past the vehicles parked and those constantly trying to back out of the coveted parking spots (which were reduced by the park's planners from many to a very few with, again, a very artistic swamp water display).
The park is heavily and well used, as the City of New Westminster intended. The arena, soccer fields, the sportsplex, the baseball fields, the skate park, the Bernie Legge Theatre — well up to and over a hundred users a night, and all trying to park, pick up or drop off, get close to the theatre and just use the park as a bypass from McBride to the city centre.
What were you thinking? Is it the same brains behind the ridiculous bike lanes put in on Sixth? Safety be damned! This city bans cars. Well, reality is that cars are an essential part of participation, and if we continue to make it a nightmare, then there will be fewer and fewer people using the facilities and businesses, and I fear an accident waiting to happen.
Please reconsider your vision and make safety a priority.
Bev Pride
