PelhamToday received the following letter to the editor from a reader regarding a church's expansion into the Greenbelt:
What would Jesus do? Believe He would not destroy His Father’s work of 50 mature trees by paving over precious Greenbelt protected land until Premier Doug Ford saw fit to change to assist wealthy developers.
The history or the religious beliefs of New Hope Church are not laid out in the news report I saw, instead we learn it wants 600 more church seats, bringing the greed goal up to 1000 while the Greenbelt land be paved. Successful In Touch Ministries uses the media to successfully spread its word, so how much thought went into not building a parking lot instead saving precious farmland disappearing daily at an alarming rate.
But wait, Councillor Sal Sorrento feels completely justified because it has not been farmed for over a 100 years, not thinking and realizing the world is now in food insecurity mode, grocery prices soaring and do not believe possibly in future we could use that land and do not forget our learned farmers are capable of bringing soils up to snuff. Rather lets continue like kids in a candy store and be sure to pave over, leaving nothing for future generations.
We all know this step by the church will set in motion a cancerous growth into the Greenbelt, and somehow knowing this is being done by a church is soul shaking. The St. Catharines City Council went against the recommendation of its own City staff.
Is the church aware of the valiant fighting by numerous Ontario groups to save the Greenbelt?
To quote Joni Mitchell, Pave paradise and put up a parking lot and put all the trees in a tree museum. Some of us have learned nothing.
Faye Suthons
Wainfleet
