Dear Editor:
I agree with councillor Holmes view that perhaps it’s time to force absentee landlords pay extra for their vacant buildings.
Why not? If a downtown building is vacant for more than a year or two, there must be something the municipality can do.
I also think there should be a bylaw forcing landlords to clean up and paint their ugly, peeling frontages. It reflects badly on the other businesses when a building is vacant for years and things are left to crumble around them.
They are not helping to keep our downtown alive, so let’s encourage occupancy any way we can.
Marcia Stacy
Summerland