I am very concerned that the East Shore residents seem to be considered “second class” in this debate about the ferry landing on the West/North Shore. There was a meeting held at the Redfish School.
When will we have a meeting on the East Shore? When will the “Choose Balfour group” give recognition to us? To our concerns?
I take issue because the ferry service is an essential service to East Shore residents. I give recognition to the concerns of West Shore residents.
They have property and environment that will be impacted by change and there are established businesses which will be impacted by change. I can and do empathize with these issues.
The question is who uses the ferry? Observation shows that, I would guess, 80 – 90 per cent of the resident ferry traffic is by East Shore residents.
I ask West/North Shore residents how many times they took the ferry this week? This month? In December? To go to work? To go to school? To medical appointments? In an ambulance?
For the East Shore residents the ferry is an essential service. Please consider our concerns…ferry ride time, ferry wait, ferry frequency, ferry safety and efficiency, environmental impact.
I would celebrate all Kootenay Lake residents giving due consideration to all the issues and work together for a safe, cost effective, frequent/faster service, with accommodation for traffic and comfortable, safe waiting, loading and disembarking.
A major consideration for each objective is environmental impact.
Regards for a successful solution,
Shirley Wyngaard, East Shore resident
