Dear Editor,
While the hardship faced by those considering demolishing the Legion’s addition is unfortunate, I see the opportunity for Jasper to invest in its best asset: kids. The establishment of a youth centre has been on Jasper’s back burner for years, thwarted for lack of a suitable venue. Given the Legion’s predicament, it seems like now’s the time to have a conversation about the importance of giving youth a place in their community.
Certainly, numerous proposals could find a home in the vacant space. However, a youth centre befits the discretionary uses for institutional land, and isn’t “commercial” on the same level as previous proposals. Given the space’s past uses, it seems that it would be well equipped to make the transition. Between Jasper’s charitable community, as well as whatever federal, provincial, and municipal funds might be available to such a project, I would think it as feasible as any private proposal.
With school starting soon, perennial concerns about house parties and Jasper’s proximity to the so-called “Meth Corridor” to the East are likely to swell, and rightly so. However, our kids need more than being told to “just say no”. They need something better to say yes to. Boredom alone doesn’t cause drug and alcohol abuse among young people, of course, but it doesn’t help, either.
As a born and raised Jasperite, I feel that our youth don’t ask much in terms of entertainment. For example, local junior/senior high students live and die by school dances, which can be as simple as finding a student DJ and volunteer chaperons, breaking out FX lights and darkening the gym for a night. Supplying these types of social opportunities out of a space currently sitting empty is a rare opportunity that could make this winter a lot more bearable for our town’s young people.
Grace Feniak
Jasper, Alta.
