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LETTERS: Appetite for a car-free Marine

Letter-writer Roger Currie says a summertime vehicle ban on White Rock's Marine Drive would be a positive change.

Editor:

Sitting in a local restaurant on Marine Drive on the evening of July 4, I was very aware of several activities which gave me a headache:

1. Eight zillion cars going back and forth for hours spewing noxious fumes;

2. Music (good music) being played really loud by the station; and,

3. Coal trains rumbling by.

I would have enjoyed my dinner and conversation to a greater degree if two of the above weren’t happening.

We can’t do much about the coal trains but we could do something about the cars.

I would like to see White Rock ban cars from Oxford to Maple street along Marine on Saturday and Sunday during the summer between 2 and 10 p.m. This would open up the streets to more appropriate activities.

Restaurant owners will say they will lose business. I would think that the opposite would occur and many people would come to White Rock to enjoy a peaceful environment and flock to restaurants to enjoy the quiet ambience.

Don’t ask how people would get to the beach. They will figure it out because it would become the place “to be.” Provide some bus service and whatever else can be thought up, but don’t sweat about how people will get there. They will.

Maybe try one day, Saturday, first and test it out. You may be surprised how positive it is.

Roger Currie, White Rock