To the editor:
Re: "Park board pushes seawall extension," July 11.
I was pleased to read that during the debate about the proposed seawall extension in Kitsilano, Coun. Geoff Meggs suggested people walk along the foreshore area between Trafalgar Street and Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. This has always been a public area used by hundreds of people who want to visit a natural foreshore to enjoy a refuge away from traffic and noise. There has never been any suggestion from anyone that this is somehow a private area with restricted access. This shoreline is especially valuable for children who can experience and learn about the natural world.
Visitors will find several stairway access points located at a number of the street ends that lead to the shore. Several interpretative signs will help people identify the shore plants, intertidal life and thousands of birds that use and live in the area. These have been erected and maintained by a volunteer group, the Point Grey Foreshore Society.
The issue of a seawall is not new. In the early 1990s, the park board and city council recognized the value of this natural area and declared it should be preserved without a seawall. If the current board and council are determined to proceed with this idea, a transparent and impartial environmental assessment of the impact of a seawall on the foreshore's natural ecology is a minimum first step before any construction takes place.
Jan Pierce, Vancouver
