I am a very long time resident of Kitimat and I am very fond of your city, which I visit several times per year.
While your city has several beautifully maintained parks, an attractive university campus, many very beautiful residential neighborhoods and many new developments which are greatly improving the appearance of the city centre, I can never help but notice the appalling condition of the traffic islands on the main highways and arterial roads in and around the city.
Your peer cities, such as Kamloops, Kelowna and Red Deer, have fantastic very well maintained traffic islands on major routes throughout those communities. Much smaller central interior cities such as Quesnel, Williams Lake and especially Smithers do a far superior job compared to P.G. at maintaining their traffic islands.
Most of P.G.'s traffic islands never seem to have the litter and gravel from the winter season swept up and most islands are utterly weed choked with some weeds being young alder and cottonwood trees up to one meter tall. This gives the city such a tatty, scruffy, unkempt appearance and gives a very bad first impression for tourists, newcomers and potential investors. The Highway 16/97 intersection is not only the primary gateway to P.G., it is also the gateway to Northern B.C., and thus it should look at least as attractive as the highway through Smithers.
The traffic islands in that 16/97 vicinity need particular attention for weed, gravel, and litter removal, in addition to much improved landscaping.
Jamie Middleton,
Kitimat
