Editor:
As the fire hazard has grown from green to yellow to red, I have noticed a growing concern about the Banff Avenue pedestrian zone.
For our neighbours living on the south side of the Bow River in Banff, we have been reassured by the Town of Banff and Parks Canada that, under the assumption of multiple days of warning, they would be able to evacuate everybody, even with our main artery, Banff Avenue, clogged, as it is, by restaurants, including my own. Until recently, my friends and I have been inclined to trust our governments' assurances, given their assumption that we would have multiple days of warning.
The Jasper wildfire evacuation leads us to ask: what if our assumption might be wrong? Jasper didn't have multiple days. They had barely five hours. Two of the roads out were blocked by walls of fire. The emergency crews and firefighters acted heroically. Still, one Edmontonian who tried to leave Jasper said to The Globe & Mail that "it took hours to move just seven miles."
So, I posed a question to south-sider friends: how confident are you that we could smoothly evacuate, as the Town has told us, in a few hours? Are you fifty-fifty, that is, you don't really know? Or, are you 80 per cent confident in what the Town proponents of closing Banff Avenue have said? Or, are you 20 per cent confident? Again and again, I hear clearly: "I'm 20 per cent confident. Or less."
Of course, I benefit from the pedestrian zone because our business rents two lanes of Banff Avenue from the Town. The Town earns good coin, about $300/yr, from the rent. Sure, this is a low rent, even subsidized, compared to the market. As much as I like the friendly street atmosphere, as a company, we are concerned about more than our benefits. I think we in the business community must also consider how our use of the street harms others. Let's consider those who live along residential streets now crowded with buses and cars detoured from Banff Avenue. And, as we gulp smoke-filled air, let's think of Jasper, and ask ourselves how we might best evacuate Banff.
On balance, as much as I like some parts of the pedestrian zone, I think the mayor, council and administration have got this version of Banff Avenue wrong. Safety, and our confidence in it, should be the top priority of Parks Canada and the Town. I believe that the best way we can reconsider our choices is by saying "no" to the Banff Avenue pedestrian zone in the Aug. 12 vote.
Peter J. Poole,
President, Arctos & Bird (including Little Wild Coffee, Banff Ave.),
Banff
