One of the saddest things I witnessed during the Maple Ridge Council Public Hearing on allowing 112 homes minimum on the Upper Jackson property outside the Albion real estate Urban Area on Thornhill wasn't the pitting of neighbor against neighbor and the incredible division in the community that this travesty has created, it was the true power of money to corrupt one's beliefs.
A man whom I had a lot of time for that has contributed years of his life to environmental causes, developing, protecting and preserving the extensive horse trail system in Maple Ridge among others showed me that even he had a price by which his support could be bought.
For the first time in his extensive list of appearances at a Maple Ridge Council meeting he supported a development on Thornhill and why? He said the developer had met with him and addressed his concerns and brought him city water. He claimed the property was useless for farming and had been destroyed already by the actions of the owners.
What was his real motivation for suddenly supporting something he abhorred for decades? His properties proximity to the Upper Jackson Farm property coupled with the next logical extension of development being his land and his sudden support of the developer/owner tell me that everyone has their price.
If anyone at all questions whether or not developing of the Upper Jackson Farm property will put pressure on the rest of Thornhill to be developed look no further then this example as the money to be made corrupts all eventually. If the Upper Jackson property rezoning goes ahead it is a CERTAINTY that development will creep up the hill, one parcel at a time as every single neighbor discovers the power of money to instigate a change in their personal beliefs
Comments(2)