Park best option for Acadien Drive

Not many cities have the opportunity being given to Charlottetown with the pending removal of the Public Works yard on Acadien Drive. To name a few, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, Winnipeg and Hamilton have spent millions taking back their waterfronts, turning them from industrial areas into pleasant places for their citizens.

We can do that too, but without spending the millions. Once the Public Works yard has been moved the remaining land could be turned into a riverside park with very little disruption to present traffic patterns. Mayor Lee has suggested the old yard would be a good place for a new sports complex. That would require a great number of changes to the present road system, disrupt the area around the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the new Palliative Care Centre, and have a negative impact on the pleasant communities on River Ridge Drive and Hillsborough Village.

A park, however, would need few major changes, and could even provide an area for a wind or solar farm to supply the city with green energy. It will be some time before studies can be completed and decisions made, but let’s ask Mayor Lee to give some thought to better possibilities than a sports complex for the area. Don Wilson Charlottetown