Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Rural issues still priority in the Township of Langley

One of the things I notice about the Township of Langley is the urban/rural divide, and how it seems that the rural part of the Township gets priority over the urban part sometimes. Yesterday, I was looking over the Council Priority Minutes. Out of the 10 or so council priorities that were capital projects or had the potential become a capital project, only one (a potential fine arts centre) could be built in the urban Walnut Grove/Willoughby corridor. One of the things that stuck out was the funding being put into the horse community in south Langley. Items that made it on the list include:
Moved by Councillor Dornan,
Seconded by Councillor Fox,
The costs and concept of conducting a study on the potential of building an Equestrian Facility.

Moved by Councillor Fox,
Seconded by Councillor Ferguson,
Approve funding of $50,000 in 2012 for the South Langley Regional Trail and
$450,000 in 2013; both funded from surplus.
While I don’t have any issue with funding trails it seems interesting that so much money is being poured into something that only a small portion of Langley will use, while the Township has trouble building sidewalks in Brookswood. As someone pointed out to me recently, there is only one councillor that actually lives in the high-growth area of Langley and that is certainly evident in the council’s priority. As voter turnout is really low in urban Langley, it’s not surprising that rural issues still get priority in the Township of Langley and I can’t fault the councillors who represent the people who actually vote.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is a pattern in suburban politics that would provide enough material for a PhD thesis. I became aware of it in the 1970s when I worked as a municipal affairs reporter in Metro Ottawa, and I watched entrenched politicians build hockey rinks and pave roads far away from the emerging population centres. The old families don't like to let go of political power, although they will generally part with their land if the price is right. I even remember a mayor in Nepean Township selling his own land to a developer while he was in office. That would never happen now, right? They built a new high school next door, and named it after the great man.