Open letter to Morden Town Council

Perhaps at the next council meeting you should consider removing the yellow signs on Thornhill Ave. indicating Historic down town Morden, if it’s not to be? At the same time they may also consider changing the town slogan from See History Unfold to just See History Folding

Since previous councils seen fit to pack up the old Morden Museum and gradually disperse it about.

The most recent issue the Arlington Hotel is most tragic.

The two parties involved, yourselves and Rudy Enns seems to be at logger heads over it’s future or it’s demise.

Does the Town Council not have the wherewithal or mechanisms to deal with this issue in a appropriate and open fashion, it seems not.

Surely, in the heat of accusations, a competent unbiased mediator could be sought to not only diffuse the issues, but work towards implementing a feasible and acceptable plan for all concerned.

Just as the residential development at Lake Minnewasta was put under community scrutiny so can the Grand Old Arlington.

One can more easy accept whatever the out come of the Arlington, as long as that due process has occurred.

"The Arlington Hotel"

It’s been a busy week around Lake Minnewasta.

The most recent collapse of a wall on the vacant historic Arlington Hotel brought a morning flurry of activity to the downtown, which has been dying from a lack of business activity in the past few years. The collapse of the wall brought about eerie morning activity to the usual empty main street. Coffee sales were brisk

this morning, as the fire and rescue department attired in their bright orange colors, enhanced the circus atmosphere to the otherwise desolate main street landscape.

The Arlington has had it’s share of fights throughout the years.

Usually it started with the bar room brawl inside and then moving on to the streets. But this time it’s different. It’s a fight which the Arlington itself is a direct participant and not just a facilitator, and the final outcome will decide if the Arlington lives or dies on the streets of Morden. It’s a fight to the death and the Arlington if it loses, it will become it’s own Arlington cemetery,

burying with it all the memories good and bad, from the earliest beginnings of town itself. Anyone for playing the song streets of El Paso?

Taking a walk in historic downtown Morden, visiting the past or seeing history unfold, are slogans that will become obsolete overnight with the loss of the Arlington. And even if it fell down is there anyone that would hear it? Morden’s loss of downtown business activity is comparable to the old saying, “if a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one around to hear it, does it make a sound? If a building is demolished and there’s no one who remembers it’s history, does it really matter?

Of course the individuals eager to have it removed, always pull out the public safety defense, their morals and values

for the safety of the citizenry, because of the office they hold, are higher than those of the citizenry who value our past. What background of history with the town do they hold? Were their grandfathers and great grandfathers part of the history of Morden or are they just transplants to the area after the fact? Coming up with the generic argument of public safety, sounds very caring and concerning, but so too would the premise that the building is an unsavory incubator for disease and rodent infestation.. As well the shear height of this 3 story monolithic eyesore shaded and curtailed the full potential of the trees the Town planted to line main street. There are always arguments, but in this instance you get only one chance to do the right thing. The 72 hour demolition deadline being issued scared me. It spoke to the fact that the decision makers, those we elect to

give us sobering thoughts and well thought out judgments, would indeed hasten to order demolition in what appeared to be a predetermined resolution.

You cannot recreate history. When it’s gone it’s gone and you can’t rebuild it or wish it back after the fact.

byline - Terry Titchkosky