My thoughts were a day late this week as I couldn’t think of anything pertinent to write about.
With that said, should I try and write a sequel to my previous editorial on the Town of Port McNeill banning the sale of recreational cannabis within the town’s boundaries?
That one certainly caused a lot of discussion.
However, that might be too much marijuana content in the paper this week, so I think I will hold off on that and choose something else to write about instead.
How about let’s discuss the Port Hardy windmill blade display? Sounds good to me.
It was pretty cool to see how Dale Dorward and the Milligans went straight at Port Hardy council and told them exactly why the windmill blade project should be erected and what they wanted out of it once it’s installed.
Council shot the project down once in the past due to various reasons, but Dale, Rick and Bill kept it alive behind the scenes and managed to bring it back for another showdown, where this time they were able to get an agreement put in place that was satisfactory to them (the district will gain ownership of the blade once it’s installed and the district will also pay the fees if it ever has to be removed).
The Port Hardy Rotary Club is clearly a pretty powerful entity, and it was interesting to see how they interact with Port Hardy council when it comes to projects being built on district land.
Should the windmill blade actually be put on display, though?
I’ve heard some good arguments from both sides on the issue, and I think it all boils down to this.
Councillor John Tidbury made a strong point during the meeting about the windmill blade being seen as a tourist attraction, and I think if it helps bring in more tourism dollars to our beautiful town then it’s well worth the investment.
Keep in mind the rotary club is paying all the fees to have it installed, so the only costs the district might have to incur is for upkeep (hopefully no one vandalizes it!) and a theoretical $29,000+ bill if the blade ever has to be removed.
Why do I say the bill is theoretical? Because there was also another estimate for removing it that was as low as $10,000.
I’m sure there are other ways the district could have it removed and taken away that are even cheaper than those two options, they just haven’t looked in to them yet.
To reiterate my point from before, we need to capitalize on tourism initiatives and attract people to come here and spend money.
The entire Tri-Port should be coming up with more outside-the-box kind of ideas like the rotary club has done and continues to do, because tourism is a lucrative market that we should be tapping in to more than we already are.
Port McNeill has the world’s largest burl, Port Hardy will now have the windmill blade display, and Port Alice has a 100+ year old pulp mill, two Frigon signs, and sea otters.
It’s definitely a start in the right direction.