Spend money on facilities, not another road

To our Community Leaders and Proponents of the Maley Drive Project:

I simply cannot understand the support for spending over $80 million on building another road in this city when there are so many other uses for this kind of funding.

I have yet to speak to any individual who supports this project or to one who can give me a really good reason for making this project our city’s priority.

As the parent of competitive swimmers, we have been all over this province for swim meets, and we have seen what other communities have provided for their citizens.

Here in Northern Ontario, a prime example can be found at the John Rhodes Community Center in Sault Ste. Marie.

Yes, you read that correctly. Sault Ste. Marie has an incredible multi-use facility for use by all kinds of community groups —athletic, artistic, senior-oriented, etc.

They are able to host all kinds of events that bring in hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars to the community annually.

Here in Sudbury, we’ve had billions of dollars come through this city thanks to the companies formerly known as Inco and Falconbridge, and we couldn’t even provide such a facility to our citizens.

Now that there “appears” to be some funding available, we are planning to build another road that will probably fall apart in a few years and will require further million dollar expenditures.

I would rather drive on bad roads that bring me to great sports facilities, arts centers and maybe even a conference centre than drive on perfect roads that bring me nowhere.

If we really want people to come here and stay long enough to raise their families and eventually retire here, then we should be spending these millions of dollars on better facilities for our citizens.

Nancy Deni
Sudbury