To the Editor:
Over the past few weeks, we have seen candidates emerge and begin campaigning for the positions of mayor and council for the City of Thompson. As one might expect, a major plank in many of the campaigns are ideas and thoughts on how to improve public safety. Many of them are well thought out and would be an excellent start.
However, absent from the discussion seems to be any discussion on keeping the streetlights on in neighbourhoods around the city. My Juniper area neighbourhood, entire city blocks between Basswood and Hickory and Juniper Drive itself, have been without a single functioning streetlight since May 14 of this year. For those unfamiliar with the area, that is three city blocks consisting of 83 households, and almost a kilometre of one of the city’s major roads that have been in complete blackout since the spring. Also in the area affected is a major pedestrian corridor that connects Eastwood with downtown that sees high volumes of foot traffic each day with no lighting of any sort after dark. I have personally witnessed numerous near-miss vehicle/pedestrian accidents because of the non-existent lighting.
As anyone with any rudimentary understanding of public safety can attest to, proper lighting is a foundation necessary to have any hope of proper public safety in a neighbourhood. I and numerous other Juniper area residents have made multiple complaints about this issue. So far there has been no action whatsoever.
My question to all mayoral and council candidates is simple. When can we expect a service so basic and necessary as turning on the lights to be resumed? We are tired of living in the dark.
Darrell Klus
Thompson
