Dear editor:

In The Lake Report, April 2, page 3 (“Hundreds attend community meeting on fate of old hospital, no council members show up“) this does highlight our councillors’ total lack of interest to seek an alternative to the construction of an above grade “parking facility.”

Surely, anything that has the potential to increase the burden of more cars rolling through downtown will have a negative impact.

Why not construct a parking facility away from downtown ie. an on-grade car park with a similar number of paid parking spaces, supported by a shuttle bus every 15 minutes into town?

This could run April through end of October as that seems to be the crush time.

To actually build a parking facility on the old hospital site, which would only be necessary for those time frames, is ridiculous, as it would sit practically empty for the remaining months.

I think it’s time that city hall considers the residents who actually live here and pay taxes, to have something that would benefit them for a change.

Go back to the drawing board and give more recognition to what the residents of Niagara-on-the-Lake deem as more appropriate.

A community hub, as noted by the J.A. Burton Family Foundation, is just the type of facility that this town needs.

Kenneth C. O’Malley
NOTL