LETTER – City’s memorial benches are receiving shoddy treatment

The treatment of memorial benches makes me wonder why anyone would spend a huge sum of money to have one put in place.  If memory serves me right, didn’t the Parks Manager recently give notice that their costs had risen greatly so those costs were being passed along to families or groups wanting to have a memorial bench?

I took this photo this morning. The location is at the north end of Schubert Drive.

There are actually two benches; one in the foreground and the second in the background. The one in the background was badly burned/melted by someone using a butane lighter and several cigarette butts had been ground into the surfaces last year.

This bench looks like it supported someone (maybe more than one person) who perhaps mistook it for the former Duchess motel or a similar watering hole.  The empty bottle of Smirnoff vodka and an empty pack of smoking material kind of gives away what happened.  A pair of shoes had been left behind.  I glanced over the edge of the bank into the North Thompson River and didn’t see a body so I continued walking my dog.

If the Mayor, Council and administration could stop throwing sand and toys at each other for a change, maybe they could devote some time to problems that affect mature members of the taxpaying public. Perhaps the bench could be towed away just as a matter of public safety.

Cheers, Mel and “Go Canucks.”

JOHN NOAKES,
Citizen of Westmount