Sir: I have lived in Chatham for 60 years, and I must admit I have never been so disappointed in a group of people as the ones we have elected in the municipality for the last few terms.
We have owned railroads that will take millions to refurbish and maintain; there of course is always the debacle of the Capitol Theatre financing. The lack of maintenance of outlying infrastructure is phenomenal, now that seems to be striking on one of the Chatham’s main bridges.
For the most part, if it’s not in Chatham, it’s the last thing to be taken care of and then it may only be a “band aid” fix.
However, now the council strikes the river roads in the former townships of Raleigh and Dover with a trail. I spoke to a gentleman a few months ago regarding this issue and was basically told it will be happening no matter what. We also discovered that over half a million dollars has already been spent since 2009 on this issue.
There is no one who lives on either side of this road who doubts, no matter whether they are for or against, that this will be a multi-million-dollar issue once again. There was a display in city hall that was well attended by quite a few people who live on the roads targeted. Very few were interested in having their lives turned upside down for those who, if any, do not live on the roads.
We pay taxes along with everyone else and basically have no say other than people with a lot of money who get what they want.
There are already trails in place for people to use. They are lovely and go many places. I have heard however, that there seems to be a lot of refuse accumulating in these areas; now that’s something to look forward to.
Also, we will likely lose trees, bushes and anything that has been established over the years because the road needs more room. Thanks for that.
These roads are used by farmers with large equipment who already require eyes where there are none to manoeuvre their machinery to the fields, partly because they have had to drive miles out of their way to get to fields on the other side of a “broken” bridge.
Can we not have money spent in a responsible way? These are grown people acting like children getting their hands on their parent’s money.
I can only hope common sense will prevail, though I won’t hold my breath.
Lisa Williams
Chatham
