I hope no one I know reads this but I have to admit that Lana Rodlie is right (Region should unite as one, ‘quit waging economic wars’, Trail Times, March 26)! She has done her homework and as a retired professional journalist, there are no flies on this girl!
She is right “18,615 people according to the latest statistics” live in this area. It’s too bad that she is so wrong with the rest of her whining and ranting.
Again Trail’s elected officials are asking me to pay for their improvements. Lana’s last paragraph states “And don’t even get me started on the library issue.” Duh!?
This is after numerous mayors and councils have rejected a larger facility and even modest budget increases. It has been over 57 years that this library has been in the same place, yet there is money for fancy signposts, aquatic centres, airports, a new footbridge and many other less important priorities than a library.
Don’t think to blame anyone but the Pine Avenue crew for this mess. When there are only a limited number of dollars to spend you cannot have a school and hospital on every corner. Now Trail is borrowing money to build a footbridge, (guess non residents will be charged to use it)? When the taxpayer or their elected officials ask tough questions like statistics about usage, GET THIS INFORMATION OR QUIT ASKING ME TO FUND IT!
The fallacy that privacy is lost when statistics are gathered is a paranoid cry when it is a public facility with limited money. Is Lana questioning the five mayors, 22 councillors, and two regional representatives dedication or integrity? Put your name on the ballot this November, get yourself elected and see what type of hard work this is, instead of sitting on the sidelines criticizing.
We don’t need a regional government unless everyone in Trail is willing to service every inch of this region with their plows, garbage trucks and other services. No more cherry picking and bullying the tax base away from others to pay for the downtown projects.
There is nothing wrong with the current system and if it ain’t broken don’t fix it!
I will continue to support and promote the area, but if asked about Trail politics my answer would have to be to compare the Ivory tower on Pine Avenue to a Russian looking at a Ukrainian map and trying to decide the best place to build his new house.
Congratulations to the people who finally stood up to the Rich Trail bullies and asked the difficult questions to get some accountability and information before dumping the contents of our wallets into the Trail vault. If Trail politicians are serious (ha ha), their next project should not be funded and built within city limits but up the hill or in the Beaver Valley. If you want to live in Trail, sell your house and move into town but don’t change the lines on a map or take my money to make the mayor look good in the newspaper.
Mark SchmutzFruitvale