Editor:
Open letter to mayor and council of the Village of Burns Lake.
It is sad, if not disappointing, to read in the Lakes District News edition of June 20, 2012, that council has moved very fast with their decision to go with phase one of the downtown revitalization plans for Burns Lake.
I agree with Mayor Luke Strimbold, that council needs to consider the long term effects that this could have on the business.
It would help if council, as well as Boulevard Transportation Group would at least talk with each business who will be affected by their decisions. Not all of us own our buildings.
I'm sure that the owner of my building would have an issue with phase one, when I'm forced to close my business due to lack of customers and his building becomes empty.
Making parking convenient for all, especially our handicapped, makes phase one unworkable.
A special note to Coun. Frank Varga, I do not have access in back, behind the building, as you indicated and had you at least come in to my business to talk to me about access you'd have the proper knowledge to make an informed decision.
Has council considered talking to the many truckers who deliver goods to our community?
I have and they shake their heads and question why phase one is even considered.
Their language was much more colourful.
One delivery man who drives an 18 wheeler and delivers to Redferns told me that if such an idiotic decision goes through, he will simply have to park his rig in the only lane available, which would stop traffic during his delivery taking 15 - 30 minutes. I'm sure that won't be a positive for our community.
Please understand I'm not against beautifying our community and making it safer for all involved, but as an industrial designer, my education had a quote that simply stated, "Form follows function," and phase one does not conform to that statement, nor to common sense. We don't live in Vancouver, or do I want to.
It does amazes me how fast council moves on such an important issue as adequate parking for our customers and supplies, while local business are trying to survive this major economic downturn. On other issues of importance such as Enbridge .... we have yet to see a stand?
I don't want to fight our council, or be involved in a paper-war, but bad decisions will lead to more empty stores and long term business, such as mine of 35 years, to consider closing. I've talked to many of my fellow businesses and I'm not the only one concerned with this.
Please involve the business community and talk to our customers.
Wayne Brown
Burns Lake