Not to late for MacDonald Marine

RE: MACDONALD MARINE MUST GO, SAYS CITY (APRIL 16)

Forty years ago, the only way to keep a boat in the harbour was by joining the famous Royal Hamilton Yacht Club which was, and still is, a friendly but rather expensive, elite boating centre.

There were some beautiful bays and shorelines around the harbour and I always found the shipping and industrial area an exciting contrast. One particularly polluted and ugly area was Macassa Bay backing onto the railway yards which had served as a discrete no-go area for rum runners recently romanticized by The Spectator.

Sandy MacDonald (yes, Jack’s son) had the vision and guts to start a marina which became an economical citizens’ boating centre visible and shared by non-boating families who could walk through and view the boating activities in contrast to the, still, closed-off marinas either side.

This was the beginning of the renaissance which has led to the wonderful parks and walkways at that end of the harbour thanks to the energy of a far-sighted and creative city with further ideas for the rest of the harbour.

Except, apparently, a mean, short-sighted and corrupt minority on our council plans to close down a thriving marina for a police station and an ugly door into the side of a cliff and, no doubt, a condo.

Is it really too late?

Bill Conner, Ancaster