Assuming that Rick Kasper was quoted correctly in the March 13 Sooke News Mirror (Public will have say on Bike Skills Park) as saying about a public hearing on the Bike Skills Park, that “he did not want council to appear to pre-judge the public process,” did this not already occur when council handed out $3,600 of our money to “draw up plans” for it?
As pointed out in a previous “Letters” (News Mirror, Nov. 21, 2012), the bike park was not the first instance in which council and staff have made up their minds well before any pro-forma hearings were held. Granted, such a plug is commonly used by higher levels of government to give the appearance of public input when the course of action has already been decided, but must we be so-duped at the local level as well?
Incidentally, I don’t much care about the actual outcome of this proposal, although it does seem that there are other suitable locations available for the Bike Skills Park; but I lost interest in the fate of the John Phillips Memorial Golf Course long ago, when a previous administration turned over a large chunk of it to developers.
Dick
Momsen
Sooke