Summer test run for the bikelanes

DEAR EDITOR:

So the latest bright idea to pay for more bike lanes is to take a “surplus” from the electrical utility reserve.

If there is a “reserve” then wouldn’t that mean that I and every other citizen have been being overcharged?

If that is the case, then that money should be used to give us a much-needed break as all costs soar, not fund bike lanes.

I have said this before and it’s worth repeating — let’s see how the latest bike lanes work out this summer. Let’s give them a full testing run with tourists and the heavy traffic that comes with it.

Let’s see what works and what doesn’t before we start putting in more lanes and spending more of the taxpayers’ money.

But to use funds that all citizens have contributed to, to fund something that a minority will benefit from, seems extremely arbitrary and completely unfair.

This surplus should be used to either reduce the cost we are currently paying or to provide a rebate. It’s our money.

I am feeling scammed by my own local government with this proposal. Once again, I am seriously questioning the decisions this council continues to make.

Every day, more and more multidwelling permits are being issued and that means many more vehicles on our roads. (The impact to all infrastructure not being addressed is another letter.)

I am not opposed to bike lanes, however I am very opposed to putting them in on the busiest arteries in our city when they continually add more traffic with more and more people moving here.

And I am totally opposed to using money the City overcharged all of us to fund the bike lanes. Give us our money back.

Barb Burke

Penticton