Thursday's letters: Bike-lane haters should try one
I am perplexed why the one-kilometre stretch of the proposed painted bike lane on 96 Street is receiving so much hate. I know that some of those who have been vocally opposed to it do not live on 96 Street, nor even live in the area, so I would say to those folks, you should not have an opinion if you are not going to be directly affected by the new bike lane in your day-to-day life.
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As one that already lives on the 96 Street lane (it is outside my front door), I can attest that the neighbourhood has not imploded and, surprisingly, there are still places to park a car on one side of the road. I encourage those that are so vehemently against this, and all bike lanes, to hop on a bike and go for a ride on an existing bike route. It's a pleasant, and fiscally conservative (yes, it's cheap!) way to get around the city.
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There is a bench built using wood from the old Cloverdale Bridge near the north side of the Tawatinâ Bridge, unofficially known as the Leilani Muir O'Malley foot bridge. In 1995, O'Malley was the first person to successfully launch a lawsuit against the Alberta government for wrongful sterilization. Her courage opened the door to class action lawsuits for many other sterilization survivors.
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I don't mind the graffiti artists that defaced that bench; I would ask why? But it happens. What is unacceptable is that someone decided to vandalize this bench to pry off the plaque that was on that bench that memorialized O'Malley.
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Also unacceptable is how long it's taking the city to replace that plaque. I know it's not a priority for those that run this city, and possibly not a big deal for many that call Edmonton home. Maybe some are really uncomfortable with that part of this province's history, or are unfamiliar with it.
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Many of us feel this needs to be fixed and appreciate the bravery it took for what this one woman did to stand up to the Alberta government to fix something that was clearly absolutely wrong.
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Warren Footz, St. Albert
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Bring back free COVID shots
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It has been reported that the UCP government want the general public to pay for their own COVID shots because they had to get rid of $135 million in unused dosages. Was it not the federal government that paid for those doses and not the Alberta government?
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If there was a concern of unused doses, why couldn't the UCP government purchase the number of doses for the public based on the number of people who used the prevention last year? Could our 'caring' government not appeal the Immunization Partnership Fund of Canada on behalf of Alberta's citizens?
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Our rich province should support those of us who wish to stay healthy and stay out of the hospital by keeping the status quo of free shots by our local pharmacists.
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