Riverview comments needed

Last chance for commenting on this smoke and mirrors show, that has been named Renewing Riverview.
first you must sign away your life and join Placespeak    Then you need to find  A Vision For Renewing Riverview you have until January 29, 2016 February 12, 2016 to have your voice heard.

You tube video of  the bureacrats announcing the building in the distant future of some health care facilities on the site; which of course will still not come anywhere near to replacing what was lost when Riverview was closed.

UPDATE:  Deadline has been extended :   Riverview vision is linked to health announcement: BC Housing
The deadline to comment on the fifth and final report for the future of Riverview Hospital is February 12.

IMPORTANT MEETING:      Please come to this meeting to show your support
 Riverview Lands Advisory Committee meeting. ( hopefully they will update their page soon )

 Thursday14 January 2016, from 3-5pm, in the
Coquitlam Council meeting room, at Coquitlam City Hall.

     You are not allowed to say anything unless asked by the chair; but just having
bodies there shows the powers that be that there is strong interest in the site.

What will happen to riverviews trees?  ( page 3 ) Transcribed here for your perusal.
( The paper finally placed the article online )

The Future of Riverview
What will happen to Riverview's trees?
Locals worried about future of natural assets
Diane Strandberg, Tri-City News

A group of concerned Tri-City residents is worried the latest vision for the Riverview Hospital site could see dozens of spectacular 100 year-old trees bulldozed to make way for new market housing commercial properties and health care facilities.
And they say a decision to knock down Valleyview, a 50-year-old health care facility, to make way for mental health treatment buildings before master plan for the 244-acre property has been developed is a bad sign.
“This whole process lacks transparency,” said Don Gillespie, of the Riverview Horticultural Centre Society (RHCS).
Gillespie and others with the 23-year-old organization as well as the Burke Mountain Naturalists (BMN) are worried the Renewing Riverview vision released in December with the announcement of $175-million in new mental health facilities lacks commitment for the preservation of open space and trees. They point to a BC Housing document from 2013 that promised to maintain as much open space as “exists now” with the current document that only commits to maintain as much of the site’s existing open space “as possible”.
Elaine Golds, a BMN spokes-person who is also with the horticultural centre group, said the change in wording ignores public sentiment captured in online surveys and open houses that people want to see all the open space protected.
And she’s worried a map that breaks down tree preservation to a “focus area” and “areas of consideration” ignores the fact that important trees are located throughout the site, not just in a couple of identified locations.
Every time a new building went up, important trees were planted,” Gold said, noting that while the vision document promises identification, protection and maintenance of unique and important trees on the site, it’s vague on how and where this will be carried out.
“It’s a postage stamp is what it is,” added Gillespie.
. According to the document, Riverview’s core collection of trees will be preserved, with landscape architects hired to oversee land use planning and studies on tree viability.
 The vision also notes that any future improvements on the site will have to be paid for with market housing and the break even mandate is a core principal in the development of the Riverview lands.
But RHCS Says the vision doesn’t go far enough in preserving the 1,800 mature trees on the property, which have therapeutic as well as heritage value. They want to see the trees protected and the site named for John Davidson, the founder of the Vancouver Natural History Society, who planted many of them.
The society plans to send letters of concern to BC Housing and the provincial housing ministry, and the public is urged to comment on the vision before the Jan.29 deadline.
You can go to renewingriverview.ca to share your feedback
dstrandberg@tricitynews.com

photo by: Diane Strandberg / The Tri-City News 

Norma and Don Gillespie, Laura Dupont Teri Madasky, Mick Short and Elaine Golds of the Riverview horticultural Centre Society are concerned about the future of heritage frees on the Riverview Hospital grounds because of what they consider to be the government's reduced commitment to maintaining open space on the 244-acre former mental hospital site. Recently, they visited the site to view the trees, including this Japanese Cryptomeria japonica 

 --30--

EDITORIAL: Riverview a gem that will be fought for
As is common in environmental matters in the Tri-Cities, Elaine Golds says it best.

LETTER: Riverview lands are for all the people of B.C., not developers
The Editor, Re. “Mental health facility, commercial district are in works for Riverview” (The Tri-City News, Dec. 18).

GREEN SCENE: The future (or the destruction) of Riverview?
The arborteum at Coquitlam's Riverview Hospital must be a priority, writes Golds.

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Wide-angle view of Essondale's West Lawn with clear-cut grounds
Yes, that the area to the right would be todays Lougheed Highway; note the excellant soil, and the toe of a slide behind the fellow in the ditch to the left. Still noticeable today, if you know what to look for.