Meet you at Gateway!
Hmm … is that the church, the hotel, or the revamped Gateway Village in Saanich 20 minutes down the road?
Sidney’s Gateway project needs a new name. It’s in a noisy no man’s land artificially created by the divisive Pat Bay Highway decades ago. Gateway does nothing to build community or connect Sidney.
If the best we can currently manage as our “Welcome to Sidney” is a liquor store, pub, gas station, fast food restaurant and dollar store on one corner — and a municipal works yard and perhaps institutional fire hall to the south, we’re in trouble.
I’m all for development of what we already have — untapped green space. Here’s an opportunity to connect all of Sidney — the airport to Tulista, to Ocean to Beacon — through the magic of park: a type of development no one regrets.
Even big box Langford managed to save their most visible corner commercial property by creating Veteran’s Memorial Park, a beautiful and popular community gathering spot.
But whatever happens, don’t name a shopping centre that will rob Sidney of its small town charm Gateway. “Hateway,” perhaps?
Ty West, Sidney
