College students being forced to pay for service they won’t use TheMuseum support

Re: Conestoga votes for bus pass — Oct. 3

In October, a referendum was passed for a mandatory charge for bus passes for Conestoga College students. All students will pay an additional $137 per semester along with tuition regardless of whether they use buses. Should students be obligated to pay for a service they are not using? The better question is: Why is there a mandatory increase in fees for a service that 42 per cent of students voted against? Students who have a vehicle and annual parking permit, and pay for gas and car maintenance should not have to pay an additional $137 per semester for an alternative means of transportation. U-Pass programs punish students who live in proximity to their university, cycle, carpool or live too far away for transit to be a wise idea. Taking this money to fund municipal infrastructure projects, promote transit or support environmentally friendly choices is not right. The U-Pass program should allow students to opt out if they have other means of transportation to the college.

Eisra Arif

Kitchener Re: Fate of TheMuseum at a crossroad — Nov. 16

James Jackson reports, correctly, that I said, “There is a great deal of skepticism at this table” at the public meeting about the fate of TheMuseum on Wednesday evening involving the local arts community. The inference may be drawn, however, that I share that skepticism, but this is not so. As I said in prefacing and concluding my remarks, the views I was reporting from my table were not mine, but I thought it important that TheMuseum CEO David Marskell hear them so that he knows what he’s up against.

I am personally in favour of the expanded museum site being a truly multimodal community arts space for Kitchener at King and Queen. It’s for the residents of Kitchener, the local arts community and the city to decide just how this will be done.

Peter Eglin

Kitchener