I could not help but respond to Bob Wishneski’s letter in Friday’s Times (Pipe bridge fees tied to Trail property values not fair, Trail Times, Sept. 25).
Mr. Wishneski doesn’t want to support the pedestrian bridge because he isn’t likely to walk across it and he also points out that people in Waneta won’t use the poop pipe because they are on septic.
As I recall, Waneta joined Trail in order to access water. And while they all paid for the privilege, let us remember that it was Trail taxpayers who paid for the water treatment plant.
Boiled down, this supports the long drawn argument that people without children in school shouldn’t pay school taxes.
Fire services? Airport? Hospital? Bus? If I’ve never had a fire, fly, taken the bus and don’t get sick, why should I support these services?
What this archaic way of thinking fails to recognize is that all these services were put there to support the entire region. You couldn’t possibly put a Cominco-arena-sized ice surface or build a hospital in each of our five communities. And the water that Waneta enjoys today wouldn’t be there without Trail’s contribution.
It also fails to recognize the benefit to our communities – attracting businesses, health professionals and keeping up our property values so that we can actually sell said properties when the time comes. And the time always comes – ain’t none of us getting out of here alive.
Few people want to move to a place that has no schools, no hospital, no recreation facilities, no fire service, no police service – you name it. All these things fit into a pot we call “community.” Take away these components and we are living in, well, the sticks. This is fine for some people. But those of us who chose to live in (or join) a city (big or small) do so for the services.
Services come in a package. Cherry picking which ones people support hurts everybody.
Don’t you agree that it makes a better community and benefits all of us when we share?
Lana Rodlie
Trail
