EDITOR:
The Charlottetown mayor and city council are to be commended for calling a public meeting on the placement of a floating dock in Victoria Park. The meeting is Monday the 27th at the Charlottetown Hotel with viewing of plans at 6 p.m. and the actual meeting at 7 p.m.
this project was first announced last summer, the process has been long and odious. The function of it has had many explanations from boat launching to Sea-Do stop off, to better photo-ops of Fort Amherst to people dangling the feet in the water. The abundance of uses has caused great concern as has the interruption of the beautiful view. A large number of submissions with legitimate concerns for safety have been made to city council. Many residents feel such an object in that location will create situations waiting for accidents to happen, partly through lack of user understanding of the fluctuating water levels and wind conditions, partly due to the protrusion out into the busy waterways and simple by daredevil behavior. People ask, why would the city deliberately and unnecessarily court tragedy?
We are told that these docks are used in other places, and without a doubt this idea was put forward without malice and with the best of intentions, but Victoria Park is not the place for one. We are blessed with an historic, natural gem other places can only dream of. Victoria Park is used to capacity, and the more things installed there, the more it will lose its soul as a place of enjoyment of the natural surroundings. The whole context of Victoria Park is unique: the vision, generosity and sentiments that brought it into existence in the first place, as documented through the old Act, the location in the capital city with views of historic Fort Amherst/Port-la-Joye, the 'look out into the world' between the two points of land on the horizon and the unobstructed water vistas in all directions, beg us to relish and protect this natural gift for all seasons. Please, fellow residents, come out to this public meeting, speak up and help our councillors make a reasonable decision to avoid troubles and to respect and preserve the whole of Victoria Park.
Kirsten Connor,
Charlottetown
