EDITOR,
So much is written about the evils of "strip malls" and "bedroom communities." Actually, I find the continued objection to both rather tiresome.
By definition, I understand a strip mall to be a linear group of businesses running parallel and immediately close to a highway. Well, people need to shop and may have to drive to get to their shops. The land adjacent to many highways is often not really suitable to other uses. In Squamish, we have a strip mall that is under a string of power lines. I would not like to live there but I don't mind shopping there. Most strip malls are well landscaped, as the above one is. They are very convenient to the people who live nearby so what's the problem?
And bedroom communities" Places where lots of people live but don't work. So people have to travel away from their communities to their place of employment Big deal! They can still contribute to their community and the community can still foster business and industry. In the past years when Squamish had heavier industry, there were still people who drove to Vancouver or Whistler to work.
So let it be and stop complaining. We are only an hour from Vancouver, so what do you expect? Maybe some of these "bedroom community" guys will come up with a an idea for a business that will start to employ people in our town... it has happened.
All this being said, I am sure the "green" view on this will arise. Greenhouse gases from all those commuting cars... yeah, yeah. But the world is not stopping oil, coal and gas exploration and exploitation. Likely it will not until the supplies are used up. So in the meantime, carpool and support electric car research. There are buses too but they need to be filled. Also, the more strip malls we have, the less I will need to go to Vancouver to shop... I am retired!
Dave Colwell
Garibaldi Highlands
