Dear Editor
I was disheartened to read the recent letter by Dana Alexander, laying out the City of North Battlefords' concerted plan to put the Battlefords Agricultural Society out of business. It can be construed as nothing else, given the City's hard line attitude towards the extension of the society's lease, to say nothing of the reasoning for it.
The City is really counting on big box stores to move here? They have no idea when, how or who, but that is their excuse?
It appears that some have forgotten the debacle of the downtown mall, when City council backed the buyout of the businesses that lined West 101st Street south of the Royal Bank, some of whom I might add held the City for ransom, all in the name of a big new downtown mall. Oh, and they pancaked yet another beautiful heritage building, the old Royal Bank, to do so.
Yes, we are all benefiting from the taxes those stores are bringing in now, aren't we? Wait, what stores you say? Right, all that occupies that area now is a liquor store and a big parking lot. Not great value for the money spent, I think.
The Ag. Society, and the ground they occupy, are a part of the history of our area, and the activities, both charitable and otherwise, that happen there are part of the core value of our community.
We do not need to have another valuable area, and its service to the community, wasted, leaving only empty space behind.
Lyle Comstock
Battleford
