Garbage, snow removal, and the seniors parking pass
An open letter to city council:
There have been many complaints about the snow removal not being adequate.
I believe that in spite of the very heavy and continuous snow fall, the city public works department under very adverse conditions did a good job of keeping our main city streets clear.
Garbage collection: the question is what do we do about bears and dogs that will undoubtedly be very interested in the contents.
This will result in said garbage being strewn over whole areas which will be unhealthy as well as an eye sore for our beautiful city.
The increase in the senior citizens parking pass from $30 to $90 in the opinion of this writer is nothing more than gouging. Should not the city live up to its own and the province of BC’s criteria for the caring and well being of its senior citizens?
Chuck Clarkson
Nelson
Seniors parking pass no longer convenient
Senior’s parking: We wonder how many seniors are like us — we got the $30.00 pass for the convenience of not having change to feed the meter. We never used it enough to pay for itself anyway but felt it was worth the convenience.
We will not be getting the pass as we are not willing to donate that much for convenience. If there are many like us the city may actually lose money, even when the regular fees rise.
We feel it is a sneaky way to phase out this program altogether. An added insult is dropping of the seniors dog license concession.
Harvey and Bette Craig
Nelson
Seniors are living on less income
Ageism is alive and well in the City of Nelson. Increasing seniors’ parking passes by 200 per cent to realize $30,000 indicates a serious level of ignorance among those proposing and supporting this increase. Seniors, for the most part live on fixed incomes.
The increase in CPP and OAS amounted to 1.3 per cent in January 2017. The City is increasing property taxes by 4.8 per cent which will probably be higher if school taxes and regional district assessments increase.
The province has increased MSP premiums. We know that hydro and other utilities costs are increasing. Food costs are set to increase.
The bottom line is seniors are living on less. The BC Seniors’ Advocate has identified that 30 per cent of senior seniors live at or below the poverty line.
Demographic numbers in BC indicate that in BC all levels of income for seniors has decreased by 5.7 to 6.7 per cent since 2013.
I would suggest to the council that they have a look at the BC Seniors’ Advocate’s reports to get a clearer understanding of what this cavalier proposal really means to seniors. Less seniors downtown means less merchant income.
Regina Day
Nelson