It is commendable that Fort Frances is participating in next month’s “Pitch-In Canada” week to clean up the town.
Just last May, Fort Frances and Rainy River District were recognized as a “safe community” by the World Health Organization—a fact Maclean’s magazine noted in a recent article about safe places to visit.
A clean community helps convey the image that we are a safe community.
For many years, Fort Frances High School students, led by Walter Horban, went around the community picking up all types of garbage, including tires, abandoned appliances, fences, demolished buildings, and yard and garden waste.
The Fort High cleanup helped make the town more attractive, removed potential fire hazards, and destroyed habitat for many wild and stray animals in town. It made the community more attractive and safer.
However, the restrictions council has placed on the “Pitch-In Canada” program—which only allows for yard and garden refuse to be disposed free of charge at the landfill—does not address cleaning up Fort Frances.
Instead, a total amnesty—allowing the disposal of tires, the removal of derelict buildings from Fort Frances, and the acceptance of white appliances—would be more appropriate.
After all, we only will celebrate Fort Frances’ 100th birthday once and making the town clean and attractive should be a priority if we wish to live up to the image that we are a world safe community.
Meanwhile, the recommendation by the La Verendrye Parkway Advisory Committee to reconstruct Front Street also warrants commendation.
The reconstruction of the riverfront from Victoria Avenue to the Sorting Gap Marina—complete with walkways, trees, and lights—is the community’s centennial project. To leave the actual road in such a state of disrepair is poor community planning and does not present a good image of Fort Frances.
If council truly believes in the waterfront project, they community can find the money. After all, this is the community’s opportunity to put its best foot forward in our centennial year.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
