Dear Editor,

being a public servant seems to be a thankless job in owen sound. i think we should start showing a bit more respect to the people who work at city hall, lest no one with any sense (or skills) would even contemplate putting their reputation on the line in order to help run our community.

and it’s a risk to open a new business, especially in food service industry. we want people to invest in our community, but if outside investors see us ganging up on one investment (mudtown brewery), after another (heritage grove), the next group that comes along might think twice. and that would be such a shame, because there is so much potential & room for growth here.

all the time, i hear people wanting our city to vamp up our tourism. a harbour-front restaurant with an on-site microbrewery, which has a funky menu & is in a beautiful, historic building... straight up - it's an attraction.

mudtown brewery was a dream for people hired by our municipality to encourage local tourism . they wouldn't be doing their jobs well if they didn't try to market it as a tourist destination. this business has the potential to bring in tourists both in cars & on boats, and it’s walking distance to our downtown core.

and yeah, it probably is a really good financial investment. if we want business savvy people to help run our city, so long as they're within the confines of the law, we can't expect them to take a poverty oath.

we live in a small city, and there are many connections that bind us all, both socially, politically & economically. i don’t think we should look to tear down those who would step up to contribute to our community. not everything is nefarious, and we should start to check ourselves when we get so excited to think that it might be.

i don’t think we’re truly looking at corruption – we’ve only been putting our ongoing & future prospects at risk by painting that dreary picture. and as a community, i think we should be more careful. we’re worth more than that.

Tamara Sargent
Owen Sound