Below is a letter I Submitted to the Leader after reading the July 4, 2011 edition of the paper. I am not sure if it will get printed but want it to get out there.
I take issue with the tone and substance of the editorial in the July 4 edition of the Edson Leader regarding the field house and theatre proposals. Characterizing the issue as it has is unfortunate. I suggest a much more positive view can be advanced and the paper, as a long standing information source in our community, could play a positive role in shaping the debate. In response I suggest:
1. This is not an either/or situation. Both projects have their own merits and will be assets to our community. Timing maybe an issue, but that is not insurmountable. That's why it's called "timing". Both projects will potentially take legacy buildings and greatly improve them. To suggest the debate is one or the other lacks insight into how diverse our community is and it is an insult to how innovative we can be.
2. These particular projects are being brought forward by citizens, volunteers, concerned with improving our community. These are people who are here because they want to be here and want to make our community better. Their meetings have been reported in the papers and radio many times and they have asked for community input in many different ways.
3. Nice things cost money. The everything to everyone multiplex didn't "fizzle out" it was shot down by the community and powers that then were. That nice thing apparently cost too much money. In my view the proposed projects are already the compromise position. It is a leadership challenge to our political persons, residents and greater business community to find a way to make it happen. I think we can meet the challenge.
To conclude, suggesting a "referendum or survey" only clouds the issue. People opposed to these can petition against these projects at many points along the way. We elect our representatives to make decisions on many different things. Many of these decisions are things that need to be done, but most of us don't have the time or interest to be properly informed to make them. That's why we elect people to do it. Their job is to make decisions. Saying some particular thing you don't like should go to a plebiscite gives the representatives too easy a way out. I want to know where they stand and why. And this doesn't subvert direct democracy because I can still petition against a decision I don't like. I just have to actually to do the work to find friends and neighbours who feel the same way. Much like the hard work the people in support of these projects have been doing for months and years in support of these projects.
Arlan Delisle
Edson Resident, County Taxpayer
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Thank you for these comments. We finally have a town council that is looking at making Edson a better place for families instead of just seniors and I hope all both the theater and fieldhouse happen. I agree that both are imporant and each has its own benifits. Why do we also pit one against each other? I used to live in town but have since moved to the county and I'd pay more on my taxes to be able to go for a run or play some hoops with my son in the winter time or go watch my daughter in a play at a real theatre. Our current theater is pretty sad for the size of Edson. I think the county needs to do more to help Edson. My taxes in the county are nothing compared to what it cost me when I lived in town. I hope my councillor in Division 6 is supportive.
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