Dear editor,Not often does an executioner express consternation when his — or equally appropriately, hers — bullet hits the mark.Yet, that is precisely the case with Courtenay’s slide into a downtown of decay and vacant shops. Consecutive, development-obsessed councils have seen to that.And scarce a resident who could not have foretold the inevitable outcome of  willy-nilly handing out permits to an increasing number of big box stores. There could be no other outcome. Competition became moot.Either council members were deaf — for there were no shortage of warnings — or deliberately steered their city onto the same course as Detroit, Chicago and many other big, now-dilapidated, cities on the continent. The current hand-wringing takes on the masquerade aspect of crocodile tears. The issue presumably boils down to whether a downtown shopping core is necessary, or even desirable. As to that, of course, each taxpayer must make up his or hers own mind. Which then becomes a legitimate choice.The current state of affairs is not.It was imposed by officials elected to run the city’s business. Their responsibility rested not only in securing orderly, appropriate new construction but in ensuring  that transitions did not occur at the cost of the very heart that makes any urban area tick. Not by extraordinary protection but by simply making continued competition viable.The Comox Valley, natural beauty its asset, is literally swamped with commercial outlets selling the same range of stock. Of manufacturing there is little, forestry remains a far cry from of old, fisheries are way down, heavy industry in name only, farming extant but not excessive.Just tourism and certain recreational activities give hope of continued incomes. And CFB Comox, of course. The one saving economical grace! The money its personnel and their dependents pump into the community amount to tens of millions annually. New construction on the base, likewise.Of which, of course, the box stores are there to take full advantage. Thus, perversely, without the air base the downtown core might not now be in trouble.But that is to hang St. Luke for Lucifer — the accountability rests squarely with three or four councils too short-sighted for their city’s own good. And now, it seems, the rending of clothes have begun — ashes on heads — loud lamentations — deep concerns… Laughable!Finn Schultz-Lorentzen,Courtenay

Comox Valley Record