This seems to be a good time to write a letter, as being an election year, our candidates seem to listen to the locals a little more.
As a tourism town, we had a lot of unhappy tourists. Among the complaints were mosquitoes. Why did it ever get contracted out? Sicamous was doing a great job; it hired at least four part-time workers and they did a great job, all done by hand.
Now the contractor uses a helicopter, scares the “H” out of everybody and their animals, and the job isn’t getting done properly. Private contractors and government doesn’t work well together.
Next, gas prices: drive 10 minutes out of town and save five to 10 cents a litre. Grocery prices are also high. Tourists bring their own or shop out of town. Parking is a problem. Only one working boat launch.
Those are some of the complaints tourists are concerned about. Some say they won’t holiday in Sicamous any more. After reading the candidates’ responses, they all seem to be focussed on local business. That is great, but what about the locals? They are also taxpayers.
Our sewer installation is leaving a huge mess. What is with the deep ditches left behind? These are roads kids are walking on and now they have standing water in them.
I have lived in Sicamous for 20 years and loved the look of Sicamous’ beautiful lakes and nice, small town. It was cheap to live here. Now we are filling our waterfront with condos and using up our prime land for toy stores.
The rest of our town hasn’t changed, except it is all torn apart. Are we now going to have to live in a construction zone for the next 20 years?
We need good planning. Put this town back together.
I say good luck to all the candidates and let’s see a town we can be proud of.
How about pushing for a swimming pool for locals? Every condo on Riverside has one.
Jake Gjaltema