To the Editor,
Fees, taxes, and time… they all go inevitably higher but at least we can slow the first two.
City of Port Alberni Mayor Sharie Minions is right, we don’t have industry to pick up the bills anymore. It is up to us, and that’s true whether you live inside or outside city limits. Rather than face this reality, the city and Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District have chosen to cut services to the bone and remove many altogether.
We are now at the point where even a service as basic and universally needed as a pool in a city of 26,000 might never be built. Our leaders are paralyzed by penny pinching and passing the buck.
There is another way, and that is for us to come together. With the sudden loss of Councillor John Douglas, who I miss very much, we now have a new group running to take his place. To those candidates I say: be courageous, be bold. The elephant in council and ACRD chambers is called Amalgamation, and it’s time we did it so that all of us can have a say and share the load equally.
Chris Alemany,
Port Alberni
