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Letter: Transit, underpass question, housing, top issues for voter

I have lived in Salmon Arm for just over two years. On Saturday we’re going to elect our next city council and mayor, and that small group of people will determine what the priorities are going to happen for the next four years. I have two priorities that have become voting issues for me.
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I have lived in Salmon Arm for just over two years. On Saturday we’re going to elect our next city council and mayor, and that small group of people will determine what the priorities are going to happen for the next four years. I have two priorities that have become voting issues for me.

Number one is the lack of transit service here. We don’t have service on Sundays, the days end at 6 p.m., there is no access to the growing industrial park, and the tiny Handy Dart buses are useless for the intended purpose of mass transit. On Tuesday of last week, I was at a bus stop with another young man, and when the bus pulled up, the driver said there is only one seat available. There’s a choice: he’s going to school, or I’m going to work. Which is more important? Along the way, two more people were left standing at the stops because there were no seats. I have started a petition to present to city council and to BC Transit to request the development of a better city bus system.

The Ross Street underpass is number two. A total of $12.5 million is proposed to spend on a project that benefits one small area of town, and the allocation of $630,000 for pumps to keep it from flooding. They are buying pumps because they know it will flood. I am shaking my head.

I won’t support an underpass, but I will support transit, and addressing the affordable housing issue. Please decide what you think is important and vote.

Marina Mactavish


@SalmonArm
newsroom@saobserver.net

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