What does beautification mean to you when you think of Port Alberni?
We wish Port Alberni’s city council would answer that question cohesively.
Mayor Mike Ruttan announced last week that the city will pay $35,000 to renovate the exterior of city hall, while spending thousands more to renovate the mayor’s office. In the next breath council cut $25,000 from the street sweeping budget and $25,000 intended for new planters around the city (they did agree to pull out some extraneous planters stored in the public works yard and place them strategically around the city).
We agree the mayor’s office is in need of more than Band-Aid repairs. We’re not so sure about the exterior. What confuses the issue is the Coulson Group’s generous $100,000 donation of cedar panels to complete the job.
Wayne Coulson says we need a city hall we can be proud of; somewhere we can host potential investors and not be embarrassed that we’ve shoved all our dirty laundry under the bed, so to speak.
We say the city needs to take more pride in itself.
A few people with a few brooms can help ease the pain of losing street sweeping time.
Cracking down on derelict buildings can help with another facet of beautification.
We would suggest volunteers helping with planters or hanging baskets, but we saw that kind of program a few years ago and not even a week had gone by before planters were vandalized.
Where do you think the city should start with beautification? E-mail us your signed opinion at editor@albernivalleynews.com
— Alberni Valley News