I notice that mayor and council have decided to forge ahead with their downtown revitalization project with or without grant money. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!
Unless mayor and council agree to keep things to a bare minimum, then I have a serious problem with this. Replace the water main and any other utilities that need to be replaced underground (gas lines included), then repave the roads. Many of the gas lines in the downtown core are rusty old steel pipes from decades ago. Leave the road width alone, wider sidewalks will accomplish nothing except traffic flow issues in the summer. Replace the aging bricks on the sidewalks and put in new curbs. Leave the “nice to have” items for when we have more money in the piggy bank.
Oh yes, one more point. If you can dip into the reserve fund to finance this project, then you can pay our firefighters as well, thank you very much.
Another letter writer suggested that the mayor was in a direct conflict of interest because his business is located in the 200 block of Main St., and unless he did, in fact, recuse himself from the decision-making process, then I have to wholeheartedly agree. Maybe the city attorneys could give a little legal advice to mayor and council if they weren’t so busy in court suing everyone and their dog, as well as defending the city from lawsuits.
The more I see, the less I like it, and the more tempted I am to run in 2018. Stay tuned.
Mark Billesberger
Penticton