Skip to content

PENINSULA LETTERS: What Sidney needs

The normal shops along Beacon should be open during market hours

There is only one conclusion to come from the sad decline of Sidney as a shopping centre: completion of even part of the Sandown lands for retail shops will result in an increase in the number of empty shops in our wonderful town, as will to a lesser extent, the development of the Jesken venture.

New benches and planters, while very pleasant, will make little difference, nor will any number of task forces or  committees. An old but most apt definition of committee is: a group of people who get together and decide that nothing can be done.

Keeping the basic current traffic patterns in the town was a good start, but could benefit from tidying up.

The tourist information kiosk on the highway from the Swartz Bay ferry terminal should be open from May to early October. Visitors coming from the Anacortes Ferry should be encouraged to come into the town.

Traffic lights should be automatic and traffic related, not on timers. Traffic down Beacon should have priority and remain essentially one way, as should Bevan, in the other direction.

A new flyover is long overdue at the top of Beacon. The normal shops along Beacon should be open during fair hours and the fair stalls should be arranged so that the shops are at least visible.

H.U.P. Edwards

North Saanich