To the Editor,
Re: City design affects happiness, Nov. 10.
This article is right on. Nanaimo and other cities have encouraged urban sprawl, which has had many negative impacts on our happiness, health, social connections, finances and more.
Sadly, despite the city having adopted a transportation master plan, I see little changing in this regard. In an effort to cut costs, the city has killed most of the funding needed to transition us to a more pedestrian/cyclist/transit-friendly city, even though doing such could actually save us more money than most of us pay in property taxes.
By narrowly focusing on keeping taxes low, this council is keeping us slaves to the expensive automobile.
The city could show leadership if it were to instead invest in trails and public transit. It could also vary the development charge costs (levied to a builder when a lot or subdivision is developed) according to the distance from the core of the city.
What we need is a clear vision and ways to accomplish that vision.
Ian GartshoreNanaimo
To the Editor,
When city council is thinking of the budget, please remember it is not always the dollars at a business’ cash register that is the most important. It is the things that build a better next generation and the seawall and all the parks in Nanaimo enjoyed every day. We have one of the greatest treasures in the world, but it is hidden. The city should be advertising the quality of our parks, our lakes and our seawall instead of downtown with no parking or residents.
When we look at the Nanaimo seawall we all have different ideas and memories. Before most of you were even born, my family used to go down to the seawall where my father would tell us that our great-grandfather, after his time in the mines of Nanaimo, did maintenance on the seawall. I am now 67 years old and can remember those walks as if it was today and as some of the best times in my life.
Terry WagstaffNanaimo