To the editor: I think Ms. Kovacs feels a sense of entitlement. Anytime a midlevel city grows and becomes a popular destination to live, people come, demand increases, supply dwindles, and prices go up. Witness New York and London 100 years ago and what it's like now.
New York City police and firefighters earn about $100k a year yet can't afford to live in Manhattan. They live in New Jersey and commute. When I was in London, a shuttle bus driver told me he grew up in Earl's Court, but had to move to Reading and commuted to work. This is a normal state of affairs.
Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»is an international city. People are going to move here, as is happening in Germany. Real estate prices in Berlin and other cities are increasing because the remaining wealthy Europeans are moving and investing there because of the solid economy and collapsing prices in their home countries. They are pushing out middle-class Germans. The movement of people and capital to better places is normal development. What's happening is not new. It has happened since the dawn of civilization.
If Ms. Kovacs feels disenfranchised and displaced, she should remember the plight of the First Nations people. Their homes were taken from gun point and they were subjected to genocide. The remainder were made to feel really welcome by being forced to live on reserves and treated like second-class citizens in their ancestral homeland. At least the Chinese purchased their homes legally and are contributing to the economy by buying Canadian natural resources from which she is benefitting.
Terry Chan Vancouver
