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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, F eb ru ar y 6, 20 20 | 6 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 80 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca editorial@waterloochronicle.ca facebook.com/waterloochronicle @wlchronicle WHO WE ARE VP, Regional Publisher Kelly Montague Regional General Manager Nelson Parreira nparreira@metroland.com Regional Director of Media Heather Dunbar hdunbar@starmetrolandmedia.com Advertising Representatives Cassandra Dellow, Jan Bodanka, Rebecca Butler, Matt Miller, Lisa Humphreys, Sheri-Lyn Blair, Chris Rego Managing Editor Doug Coxson Online Editor Adam Jackson Reporters Bill Jackson Namish Modi CONTACT US Waterloo Chronicle 475 Thompson Dr. Cambridge, ON N1T 2K8 Phone: 519-886-2830 Fax: 519-623-9155 Web: www.waterloochronicle.ca Letters to the editor All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at waterloochronicle.ca Delivery For all delivery inquiries, e-mail customerservice@metroland.com or call 519-894-3000 OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA Sadly, it didn't take long for racism, xenophobia and social media idiocy to become part of the coronavirus story. Mere days after the first confirmed Canadian cases were identified, social media content from the wacky to the downright dangerous began making the rounds. The virus is a U.S.-government patented germ war- fare weapon. It can be treated with herbs and spices. It's a global population reduction tool. But the worst, and the most offensive, social media poison blames Chinese (or Asian) people in general for the virus. It has been linked to hygiene and eating habits and other things that don't bear repeating. Viewed in isolation, most of this stuff is just stupid, some is downright laughable. But it doesn't exist in a vacuum. Thanks to social media, the cranks, trolls and plain evil people in the world live next to a fast-moving river. They can toss their garbage in, and watch it circu- late all around the world in no time. Bigotry and xenophobia directed at Chinese Canadians is not new. In the 19th century, the racist term 'yellow peril' was used to describe the threat posed by the expansion of power and influence of people from Asia. Racism was legislated into Canadian immigration policy. We might have hoped that Canada had evolved past those offensive views. But the SARS crisis of 2003 proved that's not the case. Chinese people, and anyone who looked Asian, felt naked bigotry. Businesses went from busy to empty overnight As the current coronavirus story gained prominence, some of the same people who experienced all that in 2003 worried publicly that the same thing could happen again in 2020. Amy Go, interim president of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice, put it this way in an interview in an interview with The Guardian: "I was hopeful it wasn't going to be like 2003. But it is. It's happening now and it's just going to be amplified (by social media)." Public health authorities have implemented mea- sures they learned from the SARS crisis. It is too early to call them 100 per cent successful, but so far they're work- ing. The best advice as of now remains consistent: fre- quent hand washing, coughing and sneezing into sleeves, reporting symptoms when appropriate and stay tuned to legitimate news sources for the latest updates. And if you hear or see bigotry or xenophobia directed at Chinese Canadians, or anyone else for that matter, consider saying something. Don't just scroll by in si- lence. BIGOTRY IS THE VIRUS WE SHOULD WORRY MOST ABOUT EDITORIAL LETTERS & COMMENTARY PUT COMMUNITY BEFORE BUREAUCRACY Re -- Apartment pro- posal aims to bring more affordable housing to west side (Waterloo Chronicle, Jan. 15): For seven years Beechwood Cooperative Homes has been develop- ing a proposal for a new af- fordable apartment build- ing, consisting of 32 single occupancy units at 693 Beechwood Dr. Affordable housing in Waterloo Region is sparse. The current wait time is seven to 10 years for an af- fordable housing unit in the Region. The proposal is an ap- propriate and timely re- sponse to a housing crisis that is escalating in the Re- gion, and it aligns with the Government of Canada's National Housing Strategy to create "100,000 new hous- ing units and remove 530,000 families from hous- ing need, as well as repair and renew more than 300,000 community hous- ing units and reduce chronic homelessness by 50 per cent." Beechwood Cooperative Homes, with their track re- cord of managing 78 afford- able townhouse units, is a perfect fit. Which is why I was dis- appointed to hear about the pushback the project received from city council. City staff cited concerns over the lack of proximity to a collector or arterial road, to a node or corridor, and to a public school, as well as the excessive height proposed for the building. A five-storey, 32-unit de- velopment is neither a steep nor unprecedented level of urban intensifica- tion in Waterloo. And while proximity to activity-lined corridors and public schools would certainly enhance the experience of future tenants, it should not be the "go-no-go" trig- ger of a development need- ed so critically in our com- munity.The concern about the five-storey building "protruding up from the skyline" and "dramatically changing the feel" of the neighbourhood seems al- most satirical. I sympathize with the intensification concerns of the 12-storey, 585-unit con- do development at 460 Co- lumbia, but five storeys and 32 units of affordable housing . . . really? When contrasted with the the last decade's polemic events in private development, like skirting density restric- tions by constructing dens (131 University Ave.) and willfully neglecting park- ing requirements (303 King St.), this affordable hous- ing proposal hardly seems worth council's scrutiny. Which leads me to question whether the resistance is really due to the building's height and density or so- cioeconomic prejudice to- wards our community members needing housing support. I'd like to remind coun- cil members affordable housing is not just another development -- it is a life- saving and life-enhancing social support. As a resident of Beech- wood, I welcome the oppor- tunity for this development to "add to the rich charac- ter" of my neighbourhood, and ask council to reevalu- ate their concerns within the context of our commu- nity's chronic, growing and urgent need for housing. SHERIDAN PARKER, WATERLOO