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Coal to hasten Alberni's death

Port Alberni showing signs of being a dying town.

To the Editor,

Wakey, wakey, Port Alberni. You are dying a slow death. Where I come from in the prairies were some towns that are just road signs and others were offering town lots for a dollar to stay alive.

Here are some signs of a dying town: schools shutting down and amalgamating into one; beer parlours closing; hospital downsizing; having to travel 60 or 80 kilometres for health care; more obituaries in the paper than births; spaces being left empty on main street whenever a building burns or is torn down; churches and gas stations closing; the Legion becoming so small it no longer exists.

Does any of this ring a bell for what is happening in Port Alberni?

Three months of tourism isn’t going to save the town, neither is becoming a seniors’ mecca—they are passing on faster than they are coming.

Seniors don’t spend money because they have bought all their needs when young. They tend to save more now; they did their spending when they were young. Their needs were not as great.

Stores and businesses are not going to survive on that type of spending. They need young people that want everything and will spend to get it.

Let’s embrace new ideas and things and not look for reasons to kill them. Get out there and do. Solve problems as they occur. Don’t be a bunch of complainers against everything.

Please don’t let the coal coalition drive the last nail in Port Alberni’s coffin.

Jim Irvine,

Port Alberni