To the editor:
What has happened to the City of North Bay?
I’ve always been a proud North Bayite. It was a wonderful, safe place to grow up. The city has so much to offer but over the last number of years I’ve witnessed its decline and it now feels and looks like a forgotten, sad city.
When I visit with friends and family all I hear is about how disappointing the city has become.
Why are residents not more enraged about the city being forgotten?
I haven’t lived there in over 30 years and it enrages me. Why is city council not taking this head on and doing something to clean up the city?
My son and his family recently visited family and the kids were so excited to go down to the waterfront, check out the new basketball courts, and enjoy the park area. How is it acceptable for a 6 and 9-year-old who needs to use the facilities, watch a porta potty door fly open, and see an individual shooting up while sitting on a toilet?
I hear from residents about how terrible it is that there are so many drug clinics in the downtown core, and that homelessness has increased and makes it unsafe for people to be in the area. As a society, we have a moral obligation to help all that need assistance for mental health well-being, drug addictions, and a safe place to shelter.
Just maybe the current model is not working and city council should be looking at options to address this very serious issue faced by the residents in North Bay.
North Bay is the Gateway to the north and can be a beautiful tourist destination with so much to offer but without a complete sea change, the course the city is on will only contribute to it being the desolate and sad city it is becoming.
Come on residents of North Bay, raise the alarm and take your city back, and bring back local businesses, and restaurants to your downtown core. Make it a place that everyone wants to be. Make your city a tourist destination everyone would want to visit!!!!
Patricia Frawley
Ottawa
