Editor:
The waste bin and doggy bag dispenser located at the bottom of Mason Road have recently been removed by the local authorities. The rationale for this apparently is that people have on occasion filled the bin with household garbage. And so, the answer is to remove the bin altogether? This seems to me like a boneheaded decision.
If the garbage bin is too small to accommodate the amount of waste being deposited then surely the logical remedy would be to increase the size of the bin or add a second bin. To remove the unit entirely invites the indiscriminate strewing of garbage and waste on public property by the many uncaring citizens in the community.
It is worth noting that at the same location, there also happens to be a recently installed picnic table, literally a few yards away from the former garbage bin. Mason Road in the summer in particular is a very busy beach access for kayakers, paddle boarders, kite boarders, beach walkers and people having picnics on the beach and at the previously mentioned picnic table. The suggestion that the people who generate garbage use the facility at the other end of the Wakefield development is quite simply ridiculous. First of all most visitors to the beach at Mason Road may not even be aware of that alternate facility and secondly, who is going to walk all that way (and back) carrying their waste - unless they are incredibly conscientious citizens?
One final point: when questioned the local authorities articulated a rationale for removing the garbage bin. What is the rationale for removing the doggy bag dispenser that is used by the many dog owners in the area? Perhaps they will be removing the picnic table next! May sanity prevail.
Peter Fisher, Sechelt
