Bright lights
Driving into town from Saltery Bay nowadays people will have noticed a flashing yellow road sign just north of the viewpoint indicating a curve in the road. This sign has brought a few questions to my mind as I drive past it, especially after what people had to do to get the pedestrian light at the corner of Joyce Avenue and Highway 101 installed a few years ago [“Pedestrian solutions make mayor cross,” November 12, 2014].
Were people going off the road at this location? Regular road signs weren’t effective? How much did it cost, and in a mountainous province can we afford these signs for every 40-kilometre-per-hour twist and turn on our highways? Is this the most dangerous section of road between Saltery Bay and Lund? What about the people driving south to the ferry, don’t they deserve a warning light as well? Who thought this was necessary?
Now, I suppose there was a study done because there was a radar sign at that location that measured and flashed your speed as you approached the curve. However, I believe the results might have been skewed a bit as drivers were interested in setting personal bests and I also heard that the sign did have triple digits.
I’m no traffic engineer or in charge, but perhaps there are other locations lights like these would be more appropriate on the highway or in town. How about just before the Stillwater logging road because of the logging trucks crossing, the curve just before the Lang Bay store as you head north, the bend before Vanderkemp Sales and Service as you go south or anywhere in Powell River Town Centre Mall parking lots, designed, I’m sure, by a traffic engineer who was in charge. I’m sure people could come up with better locations in which the experts missed.
As well, people could of come up with better use of the thousands of dollars of what this replacement for a piece of metal and wooden post cost us.
However, the true location for flashing lighted warning signs on the highway should be just before our ferry terminals, slow to be gouged.
Michael Muench
Jenkinson Road
Clothing cause
I would like to respond to articles and letters to the editor that have been published regarding inclusion Powell River’s plan to have clothing collection bins set up in various locations in our community [“Clothing material to fundraising success,” January 7].
inclusion BC has provided us with a business plan that supports the initiative as an opportunity for successful fundraising.
The provincial association has experience that shows there is a surplus of used clothing that is not being collected, as the figures from other BC communities show a gradual increase in the amount collected through their bins. We do not expect to, or wish to, impact other local non-profits as inclusion Powell River will focus on collecting the surplus.
There is evidence that clothing bins help to keep used clothing and other fabric out of the landfill and promote reuse of goods as it gives people another option to dispose of their unwanted clothing, bedding, drapes, et cetera. We will sell our product to Value Village, a for-profit company, similar to Can-Am Export and other companies which purchase used clothing. We will be hiring a person with a disability to empty and clean the bins.
Our organization serves approximately 250 children and families each year and 105 adults with intellectual challenges, two adults with acquired brain injury and 37 seniors through the Better at Home program. Approximately 100 regular employees and 100 casual employees are on our payroll and 85 per cent of our contract funds are paid out in wages to our employees, who live and spend the majority of their money here. Most of the remaining 15 per cent of our $7.5-million budget is spent in Powell River on groceries, office supplies, other household items, taxes and utilities.
In recent years, government has reduced funding available for each adult with a developmental disability in order to provide service to more people. This has impacted the money available for inclusion Powell River to provide the best quality services that we believe are important. We continue to look for ways to increase funding.
Lilla Tipton, executive director
inclusion Powell River
