Letter to the editor,
Re: District steps up on Bruhn Bridge project, Dec. 14 EVN.
Having an open house months after the mayor publically states the Main Street Bridge was his preferred option, and a month after the MOTI deadline, is no more than an attempt at damage control.
I suffer from no illusion, that the mayor and council have any interest in what the community has to say, and are only hoping to “convince/sell” their position on this project. As a councillor so eloquently stated at the Dec. 13 committee of the whole meeting, “people, it’s a frickin bridge.”
There are many opinions of this issue and all have valid points to them; a bridge on Main Street will have a lasting and irreversible effect on our community.
The vision should be to have a Main Street full of people walking, cycling, chatting and doing business, socializing and otherwise interacting. Not be turned into a thoroughfare that will endanger pedestrians and cyclists. MOTI’s own documentation show in the future up to 590 cars per hour are possible. That statement alone should be enough to cause concern with this option.
I keep hearing reference to development on the Westside in conjunction with the Main Street option. To me, nothing says a “safe and healthy Main Street” like transport trucks, service trucks and other vehicles roaring past people’s homes, businesses, parks and schools.
The goal of our community should be to increase the livability of our town and Main Street, creating places where residents want to walk and ride a bike such as Main Street Landing – this area is a jewel of Sicamous and should be embraced, not destroyed.
There are two other options that will ensure all intersection concerns are addressed, while enhancing connectivity with the Westside, and do not support additional and unneeded traffic volume through the centre of our community.
William Moore
