Re: Sidney brand in the works, Wednesday, May 15, 2013
After reading story ‘Sidney brand in the works’ and letters to the editor in the May 15 edition of the Peninsula News Review, it struck me what’s not working in the community’s business district and why residents from other municipalities might not feel welcome to shop there.
Thinking back to previous reads, the same underlying and conflicting message was printed in hundreds of Peninsula News Review issues I’ve read from cover to cover: ‘Come and visit Sidney, but don’t stay!’
Locals and officials who promote the Town of Sidney as a place to visit and shop without encouraging their guests to stay long-term (in new developments) is a contradiction.
You can’t promote the town as a ‘great place to do business’ without encouraging the same customer to live there.
Very few communities do this and thrive year round — they’re the ones that remain sleepy little resort towns for 10 months of the year.
Good luck Sidney.
Either direction you follow, I’ll continue to visit and enjoy a bakery stop and shoreline walk.
B. Munro
Central Saanich
