Dear editor:

It is autumn in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and this past Thanksgiving weekend gives us pause to  give thanks to our families, friends and neighbours.

We give thanks for the harvest and for the  safe passage in our journey through life. It is also time to give thanks to the memories of what was, and what we have lost. 

With this in mind, after we have lost so much of the character of our town during the last  administration, are we in the mood for giving thanks? 

To be sure, I am grateful that we only had a part-time lord mayor — imagine what more  damage could have been wrought if he had been full-time. 

I am grateful for the awesome memories I have of Parliament Oak School where our kids  went, now made all the more poignant by the fact that it is so completely gone, replaced by concrete and commerce.

I am lucky to have my memories, because that’s all that’s left. So for this, I expect that I owe thanks to our lord mayor, deputy mayor and the three councillors who voted for the new development.

I am deeply thankful to have lived in Niagara-on-the-Lake for decades and for what had been a small-time town and community balanced with an international reputation. Thankful for the heritage buildings and the towering trees — so many memories of what has been lost in just a handful of years. 

I am grateful that I lived and worked in a town where anyone would have scoffed at the  suggestion that a tower crane would cast its shadow over our houses and trees in the heart of a national heritage district.

I suppose I should extend my thanks to Solmar Corp. and Two Sisters, and of course, our part-time lord mayor, deputy mayor and a few councillors, for reminding me that I have lost something.

Thanks for the memories.

I am truly grateful that there is a possibility that this could change. The upcoming election is a time to look forward, but also to remember what has been lost.

For Niagara-on-the-Lake, this a consequential moment.

Victor Tarnoy
NOTL