Re: “Removing road extension would be ‘terrible,’ says former city manager,” Oct. 24.
Thank you, Craig Curtis.
Finally, someone from the city (even though retired) has spoken up and shown some leadership and guidance and an opinion with sound reasoning.
Everyone knows the details of the Molly Banister debate, so I will not rehash it. I cannot argue with any of the points Rod Trentham makes, save one, and that is that at some point, the needs of the city have to be the priority.
That need, in my opinion, will one day be the extension. I would challenge every member of council and the city manager to think about decisions made by councils of the day and wish they hadn’t done what they did, because it has handcuffed you in your day.
Do not handcuff future administrations and councils by removing the alignment. There are ample new and used homes sitting empty in the city now.
There are many unfinished subdivisions already, as pointed out in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago.
Developers have made billions of dollars from this city over the years, is my guess, and not getting to develop 70 high-priced ravine lots will not break them.
This alignment is not going to be constructed for years to come. Chances of this alignment being constructed in my lifetime and of many of those on either side of the debate are somewhere between slim and none.
We need to think of the future needs of the city, in my opinion.
I live in Bower and know the traffic and noise from 19th Street and the newly realigned highway, and it hasn’t stopped the moose from walking down our streets and through our front yards, or the deer from eating the plants in the front flowerbeds.
The extension won’t change that either. A row of houses along the top of the ravine will add nothing to the beauty of our city.
Phil Hyde, Red Deer
