Dear Editor:
No matter what side of the debate you are on, removing or not removing Agricultural Land Reserve lands from the downtown area of Summerland, I believe there are far more pressing issues.
Summerland is slowly decaying.
Take a walk down Main Street and it is not an overly happy place to stroll, let alone window shop.
We are not going to survive as a community unless we attract younger people and younger families to our town.
Those against the ALR land swap say there will be no agricultural lands for future generations to enjoy.
At the rate we are going, there will be no future generations in Summerland for anyone to worry about.
We do not have any jobs to attract young families and housing is too expensive.
This is not a Summerland problem. It is a worldwide problem.
Where are the jobs for future generations going to come from?
What do we have in Summerland to keep my kids here after graduation?
Summerland is going to need a new identity.
We need to decide what that is going to look like going forward 10 to 30 years from now.
John Lusted
Summerland