I just finished reading the Mayor's account of his visit to Port on May 24. I'm
disgusted that he would make what happen to the victims of the traffic sound so
flippant. The Mayor indicated he did not even attempt to come to Port until around
5:30 p.m.; could it be that from experience he knows the traffic starts to thinout
about that time? Why not venture down around 2:00 p.m., prime time for bumper to
bumper traffic with no parking in sight!
As far as the female officer (I question why he had to indicate she was female?
relevance to the story?) I have witnessed her handing out tickets and doing what
she could in the past with the traffic. If anything, she was trying to help!
This is not an issue to make light of and just dismiss. The mayor did not witness
the crying kids, overheated pets and cars. Again, the people at the end of Edith
Cavell Blvd were stuck and could not move for over 4 hours on Monday. No washrooms,
water or food if it were not for the residents at the end of that street. Thanks
to many of my neighbours, the municipality was lucky it did not have issues with
heat stroke victims. We had seniors, babies and pets trapped among these visitors.
To make such comments and absolutely make light of how his visit was so smooth is
an ignorant response to a critical issue of health and safety for everyone trapped
at the end of Edith Cavell on Monday afternoon.
I hereby extend an invitation to the Mayor and all Council members to come visit
with us in Stanley Park (down Edith Cavell) on the Sundays and Mondays of the July
and August long weekends. For their sake, I hope we have the same weather as May
24th. Oh, by the way, come early about 12:30 p.m. and spend the whole day (actually,
you won't have an option because you will be trapped like our previous visitors).
Come join us to hand out water, push cars to the side that have overheated, direct
people to the houses that have opened their washrooms to the public, and by all
means, try to calm the frustrations that people in that situation suffer.
I WOULD LIKE TO ADD A SUGGESTION: SEEING AS AN ELECTION IS COMING UP.....THAT ALL
THE COUNCIL MEMBERS WEAR NAME TAGS TO I.D. THEMSELVES DURING THEIR VISIT.
This response has to make one wonder, do they even care? This is an historic problem
and for some reason excuses are constantly made by Council and municipal officers.
Why? Port is a wonderful place. More and more people are realizing this fact. It's
too bad that our politicians don't seem to have the interest or skill to promote
and care about Port the way it should be treated.
Wendy Murphy
Port Stanley/London
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