I just returned from a whirlwind drive to western Ontario via the Iron Range cities and was amazed by the visual beauty. Every little town has simple white “holiday” lights up and they looked beautiful.
The streets were snow packed and white with no sand or salt. Just snow that was very easy to drive on and not that slippery. The streets are navigated by cars, snowmobiles or skiers and it was very welcoming.
Our streets, right on Lake Superior, are disgusting because of so much salt and dirt on them. There is a near ankle-deep slushy mess and the majority of it goes into our stores and the harbor. Why not use sand and salt just when and where it is needed rather than create a “River of Filth” downtown?
Don’t get me wrong, the city guys do a good job of keeping our streets clean and plowed and I appreciate that, but can we re-think this process?
Yesterday the city took down the Christmas tree and most of the lights, leaving an even more drab and oppressive downtown. Why can’t the lights be left up till late winter? Let’s keep the lights up until the natural light starts coming back.
Harbor Park is a dangerous, headcracking, uneven hodgepodge of ice sheets that is seriously dangerous to walk on especially when we could have a beautiful intentional skating rink that would be a winter centerpiece to our community.
The business community is struggling with a noticeable lack of visitors; why not hedge our bets and rethink what we are doing to our downtown in winter?
Why not have a downtown that people will enjoy rather than be repelled by? For a town that wants to attract winter visitors such as snowmobilers, skiers, etc., we do not show it.
Will people talk about our downtown as a beautiful winterfriendly downtown or will they be repelled by the overuse of salt and dirt on our streets and how they had to wade through ankle-deep brown filthy slush?
Snow is not that slippery. Think about that when you drive on up the Trail, where you do not have the overuse of sand and salt.
Right now our downtown says, “We hate winter and we are going to make it as ugly as we possibly can.” Why not change that?
Stephan Hoglund
Grand Marais
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