Editor, the Times:

What is new with Abbotsford City Hall today?

Approval was made to give $17.5 million tax dollars for the YMCA to open a pool and recreation centre on the old hospital site and Albert Dyck Park will have a cable wake-boarding facility and pay parking.

Personally, I am amazed that our council feels it's OK to pass these types of things without much public input, particularly because we are still whining about costs incurred and mistakes made in recent projects which did not allow much public input.

There may well be a lack in public recreation in the city but there is no lack of private facilities, which the city has licensed, who will be competing with the YMCA.

I simply would like our mayor and council to be more open with their plans, have more respect for my tax dollars and be more sensitive to what is truly needed, prioritize expenses like infrastructure, say a new police building, and stop blowing my money on private business ventures which may or may not be a benefit to the community, but will not be a benefit to my municipal taxes.

Anne Graham

Abbotsford