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Niagara Falls
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Letter: Old Town residents’opposition to development is NIMBYism

Dear editor:

Like most citizens of Niagara-on-the-Lake, I tend to read the newspaper and chuckle at the ridiculous comments and opinions that abound in the Old Town.

Of late however, the hysterical and ludicrous comments around proposed developments have me wondering where the adults have gone.

The evil developers are now “aliens” and “malignant.” Further stoking the idiotic level of discourse is Lord Mayor Betty Disero with her well-planted question about “opening the floodgates.”

I get it: the mayor and councillors work for those who fund their elections. However, NOTL is not supposed to be a gated community for the wealthy, run by the wealthy.

In this case the gates are in fact a series of regulations designed to keep the grubby middle class away from our local elites.

Look at the various comments over the last few years: Developments like the one SORE opposes are better suited to Virgil or as one woman opined, she could not understand how people could live in the ugly Cannery development.

Even more outrageous, one writer suggested there's need be no density in Old Town because we were going to shove that stuff out to Glendale.

A lot of talk is about protecting the “character” of Old Town. What character is that if not an arrogant and entitled enclave  of exclusivity for the wealthy?

Where is the mayor’s plan for affordable housing or are all Old Town working-class folks expected to catch the bus out of the area after their shift?

The town brags of its inclusivity, however, that never extends to economic factors. Imagine a town that had affordable rental apartments, housing for middle-class families and was accepting of people of varying levels of income.

So to all those who proudly proclaim there is no NIMBYism, I say you are being delusional as well as excessively entitled.

NIMBY is exactly what this is. I also understand it will not change unless the province or federal government grow the spine to force an end to economic segregation.

As for changing the character in the Old Town, I can only hope one day the area will welcome back farm labourers, store clerks, town workers and their families.

It certainly won’t happen with this council and these self-appointed protectors of the Old Town character.

So, lord mayor, where is the plan for affordable housing in the Old Town?

Respectfully,

Mike Macdonald

NOTL

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