OUR VIEW: Campbellton upgrade slowly moves ahead

It’s another step toward developing a comprehensive community plan

It’s good to see some money going towards Campbellton

Campbell River’s oft-neglected neighbourhood is in desperate need of some upgrading and steps are being taken towards that with the announcement this week of the awarding of a $10,500 Real Estate Foundation grant to the City of Campbell River to provide a funding boost for the Campbellton Neighborhood Association’s plans to improve life for people living and working in the area.

The money will be used to gather block-by-block information from residents about what they want to see improved in the area. It’s part of an initiative by the Campbellton Neighbourhood Association to develop an information inventory.

It’s another step toward developing a comprehensive community plan for Campbellton, a plan that can’t come soon enough. This area of the city has been bypassed for upgrade funds that have gone to Willow Point and downtown in recent years.

Of course, there’s only so much money to go around and we would all love senior levels of government to dump buckets of money on us to fix all of the city’s problems.

But that’s not realistic.

Still, Campbellton is due some attention when money becomes available and with an inventory of what the community wants, we would hope a subsequent community plan will be responsive and effective.

Campbellton is the northern entrance to the City of Campbell River and people entering through that area are treated to cityscape of old, outdated buildings and streets cluttered with hydro poles, power lines and old sidewalks. It’s in desperate need of upgrading.

The Campbellton Neighbourhood Association has been working to push the neighbourhood to the forefront of the public agenda.

City council must now aware of the years of neglect and we look forward to seeing some progress on some beautification of Campbell River’s northern gateway.

Campbell River Mirror