LETTER

No more ditching, please! 

My wife and I have lived in Ward 1 near Parc des Cedre for 20 years and we love it here.  Eight or nine years ago the city (with no consultation) re-dug the ditches of the streets that adjoin Beaulac. These streets are only one block long, quite wide and the ditches served no purpose as very little water ever reached them, before or after the digging.  Now I see in councillor Ms Bureau’s newsletter that more ditch digging is scheduled and that the budget for this service is increasing greatly!  Why?  

Never have I seen a bigger waste of money. Six or more workers, 4-5 days, lots of large machinery, digging up laneways and having to repave them!  The workers leave, and our street and ditches none the better. The city appears to be ready to charge homeowners for this service, where 30 metres of ditch could cost $33.60 per year.  I want to completely opt out of any ditch services, thanks!  

A small curb to protect the pavement (like 95 % of all cities have already) would go a long way to modernizing our streets and help funnel the water to sewers that could accommodate the flow.  I’d help pay for that!  Consultations are said to be coming. Please, if you’ve witnessed the same degree of wasted taxpayer money on ditches in your area, speak up, write to the Bulletin, join in, thanks.

Joseph Golding, 

Aylmer, Ward 1.