‘Only in Surrey’ Facebook page not so funny to city officials

WATCH: When it comes to making headline the city of Surrey is no stranger to the spotlight. And while many are working to change its reputation – a new social media site isn’t exactly helping. Elaine Yong explains.

When it comes to making headlines — and jokes — the City of Surrey is no stranger to the spotlight. But a Facebook community page is taking the mocking to new levels and city officials are not happy about the social media attention.

The community page ‘Only in Surrey’ is run anonymously and linked to another social media medium, Instagram. The posts range from short videos to photos of crime and drug use. The images and posts are the opposite of how the Surrey Board of Trade is trying to present the city and encourage business development.

Anita Huberman, CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade, says she’s really disappointed and finds the negative content on the Facebook page very disheartening.

“The person or organization that’s running it is being cowardly by not identifying themselves,” she says. “And why are [they] focusing on just the negative?”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The person or organization that's running it is being cowardly by not identifying themselves," she says. "And why are [they] focusing on just the negative?"

Surrey resident and bus driver Amrit Bains loves his hometown and could be considered a ‘superfan’ after penning a song called Super Sweet City. Bains gets upset when he hears people deriding Surrey.

“Surrey should never be what it is declared by a small number of people,” Bains says.

“There are a large number of people that are good, hard-working, honest people. This is what the city is…”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Surrey should never be what it is declared by a small number of people," Bains says.</p><p>"There are a large number of people that are good, hard-working, honest people. This is what the city is…"

Huberman says every big city has its challenges but having a Facebook page encouraging people to “turn away” from Surrey, is unacceptable.

“It’s really casting Surrey in a negative light and there are so many positive things happening in Surrey that really have enhanced our livability, especially in the last five years,” Huberman told Global News.

“We are a big city and any big city does have challenges related to crime. We are doing everything we can to work with different levels of government and Surrey itself…  to work collaboratively around our crime-related issues.”

~ with files from Elaine Yong