YOUR LETTERS City needs Cabela’s

Real estate developer Harry Backlin had it right.

A Cabela’s sporting goods store would have been perfect on O’Grady Road.

You can build a housing complex just about anywhere but a Cabela’s store and a lot of other commercial stores need the right location to be successful and the saying location, location, location is top priority in a big investment.

As for Wholesale Sports, they simply spent huge amounts of money on renovating a building that had no outside space to accommodate summer and winter toys. If Wholesale Sports would have bought the vacant land for sale at the old Toyota location at 20th and Redwood/ Spruce, I’m positive they would have remained open ( Editor’s note: Wholesale Sports closed all of their stores, not just the Prince George outlet). They could have been competition for NR Motors forcing the both of them to give the consumer lower prices.

I believe Prince George Economic Development Officer Melissa Barcellos is doing all she can to assist commercial real estate developers in bringing their clients with huge pockets of cash for a closer look here. The big problem is they’re not investing here because city hall is rolling out the red tape and not the red carpet.

On another topic, the apart- ment buildings in College Heights should have been referendum material and should not have gone down to the mayor being the deciding vote for or against. Councillors Murry Krause, Frank Everitt, Brian Skakun and Jillian Merrick were thinking outside the box with forward thinking skills. What were you thinking, Mayor Lynn Hall, or rather not thinking and the other four councilors that voted for a housing complex over a commercial business?

As for editor-in-chief Neil Godbout’s editorial “Right location, right call,” tell me how a Cabela’s sporting good store would be any less a winner for area residents and businesses?

Also explain how area residents would have more consumer choices and higher property values with a high density building compared to a big box store in the area ?

Finally explain how one development will send the wrong message to the builders and developers throughout Western Canada that Prince George is not open for business?

The only ones short-sighted is The Citizen editor-in-chief and the five that voted for the housing project. Also Neil Godbout, you owe Jillian Merrick an apology for the personal remark you made about her lifestyle. Those comments were inappropriate and demeaning. Miles C. Thomas Prince George