Riverview Redux or, That Didn't Take Long

Coquitlam mayor opposes massive Riverview redevelopment
Last Updated: Friday, July 27, 2007 | 10:03 AM PT
CBC News

The province has come up with an ambitious plan to redevelop the old Riverview facility in Coquitlam, but Mayor Maxine Wilson says she doubts residents will approve of it.

"Actually I think our residents are going to be quite upset," Wilson said.

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and...

Riverview housing plan sparks political backlash
Miro Cernetig, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, July 28, 2007

VICTORIA -- A major political storm began to blow Friday over the provincial government's proposal to turn the Riverview lands in Coquitlam into a massive housing development, mixing thousands of condos with social housing for the disabled, poor and mentally ill.

The government is seeking to solve a social housing shortage by trading the site of Riverview psychiatric hospital to private developers in return for a share of the profits to bolster public housing.

But the mayor of Coquitlam, anti-poverty activists and even naturalists who fear for Riverview's world-class groves of trees immediately lined up in opposition.

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