Letters to The Province: Readers weigh in on Vancouver daycare enlargement column

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I learn each of Dan Fumano’s columns concerning the Douglas Park daycare enlargement that was rejected. As a mum or dad to a three-year-old and a six-month-old, that’s past irritating and disappointing. I grew up within the Decrease Mainland however now reside in Calgary, the place we’ve got an exquisite daycare close to our house. Nevertheless, I’ve many pals within the Decrease Mainland who’ve their youngsters on a number of waitlists for years with none success. One couple has their two youngsters in two separate daycares and struggles to get them there with one automobile when daycares open at 8 a.m. and so they begin work as lecturers at 8:30, a 20-minute drive away.

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I’m undecided what the answer is, however it’s not rejecting much-needed area as a result of youngsters make an excessive amount of noise for the 2 hours a day that they’re exterior. As talked about within the columns, this considerably impacts dad and mom returning to the workforce, and disproportionately impacts girls and lower-income dad and mom. The subsequent time these neighbours complain concerning the lengthy surgical wait instances for hip replacements or their lack of ability to discover a household physician in Vancouver, they need to think about that possibly the extremely educated physician or nurse of their neighbourhood couldn’t discover baby care and needed to go away their job to remain house.

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Alison Shaw, Calgary

Lisa McCormick, proprietor of Douglas Park Academy daycare in Vancouver, deserves credit score for her work ethic and love of youngsters. Her want to broaden from eight to 16 areas in her house daycare has raised the ire of some neighbours. They’re described as individuals who have the time (retired?), sources (cash?), and want to combat in opposition to change. The “change” that was being debated on the final Board of Variance assembly was mainly the precedent-setting risk of permitting a enterprise to function on a residential avenue.

Coun. Lisa Dominato was quoted as being “shocked” by the opposition that the daycare proprietor is encountering. It’s hoped that she will get over it quickly so she is ready to dispense honest consideration to either side of the problem.

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Amy Fabbiano, a mom on the wait-list for a daycare area at Douglas Park, states that the neighbours purchased houses throughout from a park so it’s “ludicrous” that they’d additionally not need a house with 23 folks or so (16 kids, plus a household of 5 and one or two workers) residing subsequent door to them through the week.

McCormick concludes with the statement: “We had been so flabbergasted, like what’s everybody so mad about?”

Properly, possibly they’re aggravated at being advised what they need to need, that they bear accountability for lack of daycare areas, that they purchased a house on a residential avenue that could be modified to incorporate business enterprises together with elevated site visitors and noise, that it may be troublesome to promote their house with a big daycare close by, and final however not least, that due to their issues and preferences they merely can’t be good folks.

Judy Lee, Langley


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