With the advertising misinformation campaign Abbotsford is using to sell the foolish Plan A to its citizens the City has reached a new low in its behaviour. Egotism, uncaring of what the needs or thoughts of the citizens are, fiscal waste, over-spending and irresponsibility are what the aware and thoughtful citizen has come to expect from City Staff and Council. But in holding the Clearbrook Library basement hostage and using this hostage to blackmail the librarians into actively handing out pins and literature to support this Plan A(bsolute Idiocy) the staff and council have stooped so low as to be “able to walk under a snakes belly”.

I have a friend who is an avid reader and is afraid he will be forced to hold his nose and join other patrons and staff in the repulsive need to vote for the ill-conceived museum/art gallery complex in order to ransom the Clearbrook library basement back from its kidnapper – the City of Abbotsford. Patrons, Friends and staff are denied the right to protest that, rather than the thoughtless Plan A, what the community truly desperately needs is a replacement or refurbishment of the MSA library.

While launching a flashy advertising campaign to sell the fool’s gold of Plan A to the public merely borders on improper behaviour, using such underhanded means to coerce support and deny free speech is criminal conduct. The most appropriate reaction involves tar, feathers and a rail to ride the perpetrators of this outrage out of town. Failing that, this major a decision effecting as it will the future of our City – OUR City, not council’s, not City staff’s – should be postponed until the next municipal election. Where the true facility needs of Abbotsford can be debated and decided in open public forums as opposed to behind closed doors. And the public can also express their opinion on what is acceptable behaviour for staff and council to engage in.

Chris O’Neill