Skip to content

Letters: Let us do...

Bike skills park will encourage healthy living for youth

This is a small community in a big world.  A world that is rife with obesity, consumerism, and pollution. What is being proposed is a step in the right direction. Let our community be an example.  We are fortunate to not yet be over-developed.  We are growing. Let us grow as our own community and not just a bedroom community to feed those big box stores in Langford.

We have the opportunity to build something that will showcase the beautiful town in which we live.  We have experts in the field willing to contribute.

Lorien Arnold has invited big names from the biking community to our town to see what natural beauty is available for the world to enjoy.  He has encouraged youth to be political, active and make good choices. He chooses to keep a small business in his own town, rides his bike to work. He is a leader and mentor for the youth  of our community, not to mention the rest of us.

Let us not be the community that has a high rate of youth drug, and alcohol abuse, or of  high school drop outs. Let us be the community that has an extremely high rate of active and healthy youth, and maybe we’ll have a bike pro come out of our midst.

Studies have shown that children who play outside are more likely to care about environmental effects on the world. Let us be a community with youth who care.

A biking community lets people, often youth with extremely high energy levels have an outlet. What would those youth be doing if not biking with the Sooke Bike Club every week?

The people who love biking, and who are excited about the park, will help to maintain the park.  Part of the fun for them is the building and maintaining of jumps and tracks.

I am not saying that the bike skills park will solve all of the problems in our community. Let us start by believing in our future. Let us start by building towards something, so that we can  have a well-rounded community that all walks of life can enjoy.

Katriona Mitchell

Sooke