There are certainly divergent views on the flow of traffic on Beacon Avenue (re: Mr. Tanner’s letter in the June 21 PNR).
The majority of businesses we have spoken to support the idea of increasing traffic in front of their stores.
The concept of a one way street is to move traffic and commuters quickly through a given area, not a concept our local store owners and businesses generally support. We need visitors to be welcomed into Sidney from all directions and to that end we have made our proposal to the Town.
Our proposal is that the flow of traffic be reversed on one lane of Beacon Avenue. We have suggested the sidewalks, plantings and sculptures remain to maintain the streetscape as it currently exists. The street will not need to be widened, nor will it need a lot of money. We should take advantage of the roundabout at the north end of Beacon to have visitors go back up Beacon from the waterfront and not sling shot them to side streets.
The Town has done an amazing job of creating a feel on Beacon that entices our visitors to linger. We just now need to create the awareness that we are all here, to invite those visitors in and to encourage them to stay a while.
Denis Paquette
Sidney Tourism
Improvement Group