Serena Oh has announced the reasons she has decided to seek the office of mayor of the Township of Langley.
She is competing for the office against Mayor Jack Froese and former mayor Rick Green.
“I have had deep roots in Langley since 1988,” she says. “I attended a temple in Langley, because the beauty of the area attracted me to the community. Eventually, I moved to Langley.”
She moved here two years ago.
Oh feels that Langley is beginning to develop problems similar to those she had witnessed in Burnaby, where she was involved in a longstanding dispute over an illegal suite. That court battle began when the city sued her in 2008 and she then counter-sued the city over what she says was harassment. The case eventually ended up in the Court of Appeal, which found for the city.
“I never took the actions of Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan seriously. The judges ignored legal, factual and conclusive evidence. I lost my house because the judges need retraining, especially old, high-ranking ones. Sadly, common sense is invisible.
“I saw in the court system self-represented litigants going through unimaginable sufferings. In family law, 80 per cent of litigants are representing themselves. I will not remain quiet,” she says.
Oh says Langley has “a plethora of problems” and is ignoring concerns raised by residents of Brookswood, Willoughby and Fort Langley. She says council is too close to developers, and the number of lawsuits against individuals and groups is problematic, as is the cost of true lawsuits.
“Politicians should be the centre of the community,” she says.
She says Froese does not listen to people — “there is no communication between the people and the mayor. He is totally doing what he wants to do.”
She would like a new community plan for Willoughby, which is experiencing a variety of problems ranging from parking to lack of transit and schools.
She wants to see better transportation in Langley, and a review of property tax rates. More housing for the homeless is needed as well.
“I also have concerns about the sale of public land,” she says.
Oh says she has many concerns about the environment, and the Township needs to come up with a “solution for sustainability.
“We need clean air, clean water and protection of trees.”