Editor,

Langley business owners and government claim they need to reinvent Langley by offering a fun family attraction, the funicular. If the town needs to be reinvigorated, why not focus on the biggest attraction Langley has long held? The reason visitors and residents love Langley is to experience a small and charming rural town in a beautiful setting.

There are those who say they will stop visiting Langley if a funicular is built because it would be incompatible with the town’s character and ruin the ambiance. Building a funicular will require further changes and create problems like re-routing Cascade Avenue further west, adding a wide promenade where the road is, parking and traffic congestion, and potentially, a thruway, on Third Street. The city claims that boaters will use dock carts to and from remote parking lots so there will be dock cart stations and carts strewn about town.

The terminal on Cascade Avenue will have some kind of structure to protect the queue of individuals from the weather. The exquisite view cherished by many will be lost no matter the attempts to minimize the impact. Remember how the planning department said the Langley Lift did not block the view? They said if you thought it did (who did not?), you could easily have the full view back if you just stepped out on the viewing platform they would build. It is disturbing for those who love Langley and its iconic view on Cascade Avenue to know that business owners and city leaders do not hold the view precious and worth protecting.

Improving pedestrian access to Wharf Street should be done in a way that’s consistent with the scale and character of Langley. Many in government choose to ignore this fundamental guideline for development in favor of an outrageously expensive high—tech, high-capacity transport device that benefits few. Langley is a town of about 1,100. The big dreams that planners and city leaders have been pursuing do not fit Langley. Our leaders should be protecting and reinforcing the rural charm, the biggest attraction Langley has and will ever need.

Once the rural charm is lost, it will not return. Langley deserves better.

JACKSON MATTHEWS

Langley