Letters to The Sun, June 22, 2021: We need 'more carrots and less sticks' to achieve a cleaner air goal

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Re: Vancouver’s Climate Emergency Parking Program is a prescription for clean air and a healthy future

No one can dispute that cleaner air is a desirable goal, but Melissa Lam’s suggestion that adding yet another layer of fees and costly oversight seems far from the fairest way to reach it.

The City of Vancouver already reaps higher tax revenues from residents every year due to our endlessly rising housing values.

On top of that, Greater Vancouver drivers already pay the highest gas prices in North America rivalled only by California. Lam flags some parking fees paid in Montreal but fails to mention Vancouverites already pay about 35 cents more for every litre of gas. Her comparison of Vancouver and Paris was also mystifying given Parisian citizens already enjoy a world-class transit system that is vastly superior to anything here.

As a Vancouver-born cyclist, driver, and taxpayer, I’d rather see city planners use available money more wisely. Our older cycling system using quieter side-street routes for cross-city riding allowed cyclists to feel safer and continues to be well used. But new bike lanes are crammed onto main streets — such as expensive new changes on Nanaimo Street that don’t appear to get much use.

Finally, with all the bureaucracy needed for signage, billing, overnight fee permits, enforcement and collecting, this process would add yet another thick layer of expensive City administration that taxpayers can do without. Let’s use more carrots to get people to buy greener cars but we don’t need the stick of more city bureaucracy.

Walter Melnyk, Vancouver

The Unique Lives & Experiences Series will miss Shelley Fralic

My heart is heavy and saddened at the sudden passing of a great friend to Vancouver and The Vancouver Sun readership. I had the pleasure of knowing her for 25 years beginning with my return to Vancouver in 1995 to open Unique Lives & Experiences lecture series and how supportive she was for an evening like this giving women a fun night out with friends and colleagues.

We had many talks about the series and one day she came over because she wanted to write an article on the series and highlighted my mentor, Maya Angelou. We talked for hours about the women who’d graced the Orpheum Theatre stage and the stories they told.

We/I will miss Shelley’s smile, her interest in everyday people and their lives, never missing a beat, being an amazing writer, telling her stories like it was. She just had a knack for making us all think about life! She returned every call, every email and note with care and concern. I think the city just waited for her columns to appear and wondering, ‘what’s she going to talk about this time’….and we were glued to her every word, every thought!

Rest in peace, Shelley, we already miss you! I know I do.

Cindy Charkow, Vancouver Producer, Unique Lives & Experiences

Vancouver school board cuts honours programs

There’s a fabulous story by Kurt Vonnegut in which excellence of any sort is banned. Those deemed too beautiful must wear masks to hide their faces, graceful ballerinas are burdened with weights to prevent them from leaping too high, those classed as too intelligent are forced to wear earphones that emit loud screeching noises to prevent them from thinking too hard.

The story, ‘Harrison Bergeron,’ begins with a sentence the VSB may have begun including as part of its mission statement: “The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal.”

So much for the notion of being able to excel.

Heidi Greco, Surrey

We should teach religious tolerance

When I was at school in England, at about age 14, we had a weekly class called comparative religion. This taught us about the various faiths in an impartial format.

We have recently seen terrible attacks on different religious groups including Muslims and Jews. I suggest that all schools should have compulsory classes to educate students about the histories of religions. This could include how religions compare and contrast, and teach tolerance for the beliefs of other faiths.

David Brough, Vancouver

Letters to the editor should be sent to sunletters@vancouversun.com. 

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