Dear editor:
Infrastructure is never going to be an easy sell like a recreation facility, but sometimes we citizens need to be reminded that what we want isn’t the same thing as what we need.
Council wants to do something nice for our town with the new aquatic centre and it would be crass to not acknowledge that, but the town’s roads are under immense pressure and you don’t worry about the television when the foundation’s cracking.
With reference to roads within town limits, let’s assume the transportation master strategy (due within a few months) suggests some imminent changes. Now after we take out a loan of $19 million for the pool, the town would be maxed out, so to speak, and any money required to fix our roads would be problematic. Once we’ve committed our resources to the pool, where will we find the dollars to fix the roads?
With reference to the provincially controlled highways coming into Cochrane —exactly what has been tried, who has been contacted, how often have they been contacted and how have other communities succeeded in prying road dollars out of the province while we have not?
Right now we are told, ‘we’re working on it’ and left with that. Not good enough — if the town is working really hard and the province is the problem, then let us know — but give us facts to back up that claim.
Brooks Tower
