The following letter was sent to Ministry of Trans-portation and Infra-structure Minister Shirley Bond and copied to Coast Reporter.
I'm familiar with the highway between Selma Park and Sechelt - I rode my bike along it every day for a few weeks while having my car repaired. There are sections where mere inches of shoulder exist between the edge of the pavement and the ditch, portions where the edge markings have crumbled away with the pavement and long lengths of road edge where dodging scattered rock, gravel and other debris increased the treachery of the ride. Ferry traffic, delivery and transport vehicles and logging trucks roared past, so near they either drenched me in oily water or peppered me with chunks of road debris - and this was 30 years ago! Since then the traffic on this highway has doubled or tripled.
While I recognize the jurisdiction your department has over highways in this province, your ministry has failed to recognize or acknowledge the stake we citizens have in what happens to the highway within the boundaries of our district or respond to our urgings in any meaningful way. Your autocratic position has placed our elected municipal officials in an untenable position and at odds with each other. They want to do right by this community, but you have fettered their efforts by delivering them a classic Hobson's choice - in essence, no choice at all. In order to secure the infrastructure funding, they must do what you and your minions dictate (Davis Bay) and not what their electorate want (Selma Park).
In this matter it can be argued that your department's behaviour is no different than that of a school yard bully.
Alison Gibson
Sechelt
