Proposed development is not a “village green”
Editor:
As one who was raised in the “Garden of England” (Kent) where almost every village has a “Green” around which the villages had evolved over time and used for all manner of community purposes from weekend cricket matches to autumn carnivals complete with Maypole dancing and flower shows, I fail to see how the proposed development of pathways and trees created after the fact from the tearing down of the TD Bank can be considered as a “village green”.
If Caroline/Library streets did not split the current greenspace into quarters around the library and Station on the Green, Creemore would have an almost perfect village green that included the memorial to our fallen warriors and lots of grass for children to play.
Adding a relatively small area to our restful horticultural park will not make a “Village Green”, especially if it means the removal or changes to our existing park, which serves a defined purpose, namely a quiet place where residents can sit and enjoy nature and a fountain surrounding six unique dancing children and currently free of the commercial aspects of a downtown area.
Commercialization of our communities needs to be brought under control and take second place to the enjoyment of life by those of use who have chosen to live in Creemore. Each week we are seeing how our elected officials are intent on turning our villages and their historical features into commercial venues benefiting the few in our communities who have shops and being paid for with the tax dollars of residents.
If Clearview Township took some of the money it’s now using for 10-person tourism vehicles, the “crass” signage appearing everywhere across the municipality and for “naming rights” for the GNE and used it for the real benefit of the community by fixing the infrastructure and accessibility issues, those living here would be far better off.
If you go to London, England you’ll find hundreds of small quiet “horticultural gardens” similar to our own with a seat or two for people to rest their aching bones and spend some time in thought or conversation removed from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding commercial world.
Such is our own horticultural Garden, so please council, our elected councillor and the “do-gooders”, many of whom do not even live here yet support the removal of the TD Bank building as a tax advantage for an organisation that has cut out the “heart” of Creemore and many other Ontario villages, leave our garden as the only respite from the noise on Mill Street life and take your commercially centred “Village Green” elsewhere!
Peter Lomath,
Creemore.
