Bare

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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