Maple Ridge continues to dither on Northumberland Court, not to anyone's surprise

THE FOLLOWING REPORT IS FROM MRCC

So October 15th has come and gone and the changes that the city said they would implement at Northumberland Court have been given an extension once again.

So unfortunately once again as a result of inaction on behalf of the city this is an update with nothing to update.

Why the city continues to put out dates that it will not, and does not honour only the mayor, council and senior staff can answer. Without a doubt there will be no end of excuses as to why the city is once again not honouring its commitments, but these excuses are just that.

The city reports on the conditions at Northumberland Court were documented by city staff ten months ago in February and March of 2009, this on top off existing documentation that had been compiled since 2003.

Though there were questions asked months ago as to whether the city was engaging the province, specifically the ministry of employment and income assistance, as to what was being done to assist those individuals in the event the repairs were not made the answers came back that the city was in a dialogue with the province and yet October 15th comes and goes and what comes out is that the pieces are not in place so another extension is being granted.

The city carried on from 2004 till the end of 2008 saying they cannot act in the interest of citizens safety and rights due to the fear of liability, and yet now the leadership of Maple Ridge have left themselves, and every resident in this city open to a gaping liability because they have willingly and knowingly not honoured their commitments.

The reports by city staff are quite clear. A number of the units reported on do not currently pass the BC building code, the city knows this and yet they will not act on their own time line even though this issue has been building up since 2007.

If those buildings collapse, catch on fire or any instance that can be traced back to damage reported by city staff in their reports, and all of those reports were accept by council, then the city is going to find itself at the end of a huge legal liability. One that could have been avoided by honouring its commitments.

For anyone that wants to see this sorry state affairs come to an end you are encouraged to contact the mayor and senior staff and ask why the city does not live up to its commitments, and why now it is acceptable to put the city at risk of liability? How many more extensions will the majority owner get? And finally, going forward, why should anyone in the immediate community, or all of Maple Ridge for that matter believe anything that the city says it is going to do in regards to actions and time lines?

The city and its leadership has used up its good will capital and regardless of all the reports and talk out of city hall, this situation looks like it could drag on for years with no leadership or intention of getting things accomplished.