To the Editor,
I have been riding the Quay to Quay pathway between Redford and Roger on my way to work for several weeks. It has been a delight. Finally, a pleasant route for pedestrians and cyclists away from the danger of heavy traffic on Stamp Avenue. I have always encountered other pathway users and I know we are all breathing easier, both physically and metaphorically, along the new route.
Today I biked the Quay to Quay’s newly opened waterfront in front of the Somass Mill site. What a gift to the town! I rode along the delightful boardwalks, noted the pleasant seating areas, noticed – for the first time – that nature actually persists on our urban shores. Along the trail you will find marshes with cattails, estuarine habitat, shore birds and seals bobbing in the water. For the first time, I felt like our urban core was part of our landscape, not simply a blight on it. That impression can only be strengthened with renaturalization of the mill site.
The pathway is not yet perfect or complete, but if you get out and scoot, bike, walk, wheel or run it, I think you will see how it connects Port Alberni to our future. It was a fraught and controversial proposal, but it is clear now how it paves the way to strengthen our community’s ecological, cultural and economic integrity. It’s a delight and it sparks the imagination. Thank you to the city for their bold vision.
Leonora King,
Port Alberni
