We live in a country, a province, a region, but the places we actually call home are much smaller than any of those.
In this issue we鈥檙e taking a look at the neighbourhoods of 91原创, from Aldergrove to Walnut Grove, Brookswood to Fort 91原创.
Geography and history have made each of our neighbourhoods surprisingly distinct.
A walk along the waterfront in Fort 91原创, through a shady ravine in Walnut Grove, or down an equestrian trail in South 91原创 may be equally enjoyable, but each is a different experience.
Those local experiences are what shape our day-to-day lives.
We live in Metro Vancouver, but we aren鈥檛 Vancouverites. We might visit Stanley Park or Lynn Valley or Steveston sometimes, we might work in Surrey or Burnaby or the Tri-Cities, but our core experiences come from the area where our homes are located.
Our neighbourhoods are where we walk the dog, where the local elementary and high schools are located, where our nearest grocery stores and coffee shops can be found.
It鈥檚 where we鈥檙e most concerned about the small but vital ways we experience our communities. Are the roads potholed? Are the sidewalks and crosswalks in good shape? Are there covered bus shelters? Enough streetlights? A good local library branch? Shade trees? Too much noise, too little for teenagers to do once school is out for the day?
Those concerns highlight something else important 鈥� none of our neighbourhoods are ever really complete.
As long as our population is growing and changing, there will be growth and change in our neighbourhoods.
That鈥檚 a tremendous opportunity, as well as a responsibility.
How can we preserve what we most love about the places we have chosen to live? The parks and shops, playgrounds and doctors offices, schools and trails?
And how do we keep those things while letting the community grow and become better? What is still needed in our neighbourhoods, that previous generations never anticipated?
Those can be contentious questions, fought out at municipal hall. There鈥檚 a reason why they say all politics is local 鈥� the place where we live is the most precious to us.
鈥� M.C.
