RESIDENTS POISED FOR DISAPPOINTMENT
Three recent noteworthy letters have garnered wide interest. The general citizenry is occupied with making ends meet and reticent to engage in public debate, but appreciate when others do.
Judy Barrett’s letter (Better decisions needed from leaders, Feb. 8) echoes the lament of a very large number of Islanders. The powerlessness to prevent the continued erosion of the quality of life on the Island is felt deeply.
There is a sense that decision-makers appear unwilling or unable to stop the policies that cause the decline. The sense, that the agenda of our leaders is set by certain financial interests without regards or concern for the common good of the people, is creating an anxious, mistrustful, hopeless and sad society.
The letters from Sandy Kowalik (Vet houses celebrate 75th anniversary, Feb. 13), and Tex Macdonald (Charlottetown public gardens, Jan. 31) insert creative topics beyond “housing,” which is sucking the oxygen out of public discourse.
Islanders are in a concerned, waiting mode, poised for disappointment in the long missing plans to address the population explosion, land use, as well as of the new city plan for Charlottetown.
The new city plan will, without a doubt, reflect the impositions demanded by the federal government’s disastrous immigration policies.
This will mean squeezing as many people as possible into as small spaces as possible. It will mean dismantling pleasant family neighbourhoods; disregarding historic neighbourhoods, buildings and streetscapes; increasing traffic; and putting pressure on recreational spaces, infrastructure and services; along with diminishing the visual pleasures we enjoy and want to keep.
The city could, with a creative, visionary plan, surprise us.
Municipal planners could ensure, that the old long-lasting, beautiful buildings and streetscapes survive, and not be overshadowed randomly by modern, high and low, “slap them up, Jack” kind of erections.
They could ensure that Charlottetown will retain its heritage flavour, even enlisting a specialist in such matters.
They could act immediately, and with little cost, to the suggestion, that the unique Alexander Drive neighbourhood be preserved and designated under the Heritage Preservation Law.
They could pursue a long-term and perpetual leasing agreement with the province for the hayfield (old P.E. Hospital grounds) that greets visitors at the end of North River Road to become an attractive addition to Victoria Park. It should of course contain a caveat, that its use be only as passive green space or a botanical garden.
They could, in the name of more housing, and savings of city grants, propose that The Guild building be sold and turned into housing, while the gallery portion be retained to remain independently operational. Non-profit organizations generally need not, and cannot afford, to sit on multimillion-dollar properties.
As we await these plans from the city and the province, we can only hope — and ask — that the large, and profoundly regrettable lacuna that exists between the thinking of “the powers that are” and the wishes of the people forced to live with the decisions they make, can be immensely reduced. Kirsten Connor
Former chair,
City of Charlottetown heritage review board