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The end of PoCo as we know it.

By Matthew Visser

r those of you who have driven

FE: walked down Shaughnessy

Street in Port Coquitlam, you’ ve
probably seen the construction that is
taking place beside Lions Park. And for
those of you who don’t know what our
very foresighted city counsel and Mayor
Gregory Moore have decided to let be
built there, it is a 26 story high-rise.

The first high rise of its kind to come
to PoCo is also what is going to be the
end of the small down town feel that I
have experienced living in PoCo for my
whole life. PoCo for me has always been
about living in a small town which offers
everything you could possibly need to
live comfortably. This said, the a high rise
is being built on a small block flat right
beside the main park, Lions Park, where
families go to enjoy a day on the swings
or the monkey bars. How is this going to
make PoCo sound like a family oriented
town to live in if there is a 26 story high
rise being built beside the most popular
park in the city?

I have read the newspaper articles
and the online internet sites of how they
have made the new high rise sound to
be the saviour of PoCo; advertising
its “26 stories, standing high above
all other buildings in the region, the
Shaughnessy byLions Park is Coquitlam’s
first landmark tower as well as its first
residential tower to be developed with
comprehensive sustainability principles”.
But I say how false this will be. How will
it look to the people who walk or drive
by past what was seen as Lions Park and
will now only see a 26 story tall piece of
cement that over hangs to the left, sealing
off the beautiful Lions Park from PoCo.

Now I may sound like I’m over
exaggerating, but I cannot stress enough
the fact that the small businesses that are
part of the strip mall, which have been
there for as long as I have known, are
going to be torn down and have small
condos or town houses replacing them.

Now, I don’t know about you, but
this to me a complete slap in the face
by the Mayor and the council of PoCo
to the people who own those small
businesses and for the people who have
been shopping at those small businesses
for years. This will give the idea to other
people who want to create their own
small businesses to not do it, it will be a
waste of money and time they will think,

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because people who own small businesses
have their stores and shops on land
around other stores and shops. These are
located on land that can be, and probably
will be used in the future, or wanted to
be used to build high rises or apartment
buildings. This type of architecture ruins
the very houses and buildings that keep
PoCo historical. Without these homes the
simplest historical landmarks will be torn
down and never seen again.

Onni Group of Companies, the
contracting company who is charge
of building the sky rise, says that “the
Shaughnessy recognizes the city’s
heritage and history, brick facades and
architectural steel were installed at
street level to ensure the building was
in harmony with the look and feel of its
namesake, Shaughnessy Street”. But I
have never come to see PoCo, let alone
Shaughnessy Street, something that
has had “steel” as something that keeps
history, well, historical. Brick and wood
was used from the pictures that I have
seen of old PoCo, but no sighting of steel.
This is just a way of playing with words
to make this high rise sound sleek and
clean looking to attract people and forget
that it will be destroying a section of
PoCo that is already historical and pretty
good looking to me.

Now for those people who are
thinking a high rise in down town PoCo
does not sound like that bad of a thing,
you might want to live right beside Earl’s
and Safeway and major bas stop locations
and possible employment options. This
thinking is completely normal because
this living is what people need in today’s
society. And these easy comforts that
make life easier are what every person
wants, but I say not at the cost of killing
down town PoCo.

This high rise will change PoCo in
more ways then anyone living in PoCo
or just driving through down town can
see in the future. The construction has
already taken place and already it is
affecting traffic and the way pedestrians
are able to cross the street to get to the
small businesses and Lions Park. And if
you hate driving into down town PoCo
and trying to squeeze into the one lane
intersection. Just think about what it will
be like with more cars from the people
living in the high rise.

I just hope that people can open
their eyes and see how the high rise will
change PoCo and not for the better.

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