OSOYOOS TIMES-August 5, 2009
Our current Osoyoos town council can be commended for taking action on a number of issues which have been of concern to this community for some time.
The new boat trailer parking lot seems to have struck a chord and has taken at least some of the traffic snarling trailers off of our roads.
Council listened to the community’s call to do something about the lack of affordable housing here and a task force was created to seek solutions.
And council deserves some credit for getting the ball moving in the revitalization of Desert Park after so many years of stagnant ideas about bringing the facility back to life.
For the most part, it’s been a productive year so far for Stu Wells, Michael Ryan, Margaret Chadsey, C.J. Rhodes and Ted Cronmiller.
Don’t let the momentum die.
There’s still a great deal of work to be done and this summer in Osoyoos has shown once again that traffic in town still needs to be dealt with.
Calls for traffic lights, crosswalks, sidewalks and better signage across the town have gone unanswered in the past few years.
It’s not unusual to witness, on an almost daily basis, near-collisions— sometimes between vehicles, sometimes between vehicles and pedestrians— along with incidents of road rage because of a lack of measures to improve traffic flow and protect drivers, cyclists and those on foot.
There’s money out there to pay for improvements, whether in the form of grants or density bonuses or the two-per-cent hotel room tax.
Let’s put it to use.
One of the excuses for lack of action in the past for traffic improvements along Osoyoos’s busiest corridors was the fact that highways 3 and 97 fall under the jurisdiction of the B.C. Transportation Ministry.
Well, it’s time to get on the ministry’s case then and push for some results.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease and persistence is a virtue and the leaders of this town have to stop taking no for an answer in order to get a better crosswalk set up at 62nd Avenue and Hwy. 97 or traffic lights at Hwy. 3 and Cottonwood Drive.
We have an MLA in Victoria now who is from this town and knows all our problems.
So, mayor and council, grab his arm and start twisting.
Council is this community’s voice to pressure the provincial government and it’s about time that voice is raised to a volume that can’t be tuned out.
As for the rest of us, we have to be equally persistent in reminding our elected representatives who fill the chairs in council chambers that this issue, and all the challenges facing Osoyoos, need addressing.
