Don’t discourage those who want to invest in downtown

Re: Are the highrise towers out of our control? — June 17

Is this some sort of satirical commentary? Is Luisa D’Amato complaining about growth in the downtown core?

For years, downtown Kitchener was considered by many as a wasteland. Full of crime and addiction.

Residents had abandoned it for the suburbs, never to return.

Both city and regional council have been working for decades, and invested hundreds of millions of dollars into downtown Kitchener to encourage people to move back downtown, and businesses to set up the offices and shops downtown.

Now, in 2022, demand to live and work in the downtown core is at an all-time high. The city is finally realizing what council envisioned 30 years ago. It’s spectacular! And now you want to stop it? To slow things down? Am I reading this right? Are now trying to discourage develwe opment in the city core?

To me, this is mind-boggling. We are finally achieving the kind of growth that was always sought after.

Developers are now clamouring to invest in our city and columnists like Ms. D’Amato, along with councillors like Debbie Chapman, are trying to find new and unique ways to discourage them. Mac Graham Kitchener