To the editor:

In the second candidates forum Dick Haugan talks about downtown merchants grumbling about the 19 parking spots that got eliminated in the Winslow Tomorrow project. Let me cry a few crocodile tears for them.

The Winslow Tomorrow project was the best thing ever from the pedestrian point of view. It widened the sidewalks and added much needed greenery. Sidewalk sales, benches and outside dining are now possible. Prior to the project the sidewalks were so narrow you had to walk single file if you met someone coming the opposite direction.

This town beautification along with the enhanced gateway to town provided by the Art Museum and the Waypoint Park, have resulted in hordes of tourists walking off the ferry into town to spend their money in the stores of these complaining merchants.

The town of Winslow is tasked with taking half the future growth on the island. Winslow residents like myself walk to downtown stores and appreciate a green, pedestrian friendly downtown. We don’t want the place asphalted over so the outlying residents of the island can make a quick hit and run downtown.

I was on the planning agency a few years ago when a downtown parking garage was proposed between BPA and Winslow Way. The same merchants complaining about the loss of 19 parking places nixed that idea as too costly. Let them live with their past folly and let me enjoy a pedestrian friendly downtown Winslow.

GARY PETTERSEN

Bainbridge Island