Boardwalk Needs to Be Fixed At Marina; Attention Mayorial Candidates

Whether you are flying to a vacation destination, driving to work, or even going in on a breakaway to score a goal; unimpeded access is very important; hence my topic today. 

Discovering this beautiful area gives me the opportunity as an “outsider” to notice things in the same way a tourist might. This is beneficial for the community as I am lucky enough to have a forum with a very fast growing 
(250 + visitors per day) following and the chance to make my thoughts known. 

With the election coming up on the 24th of October, I am hoping that whoever we put in office will do the following during the early part of their term. 

Going for my daily walk around Richards Landing I enjoy the trees, the sights, smells, and sounds of the water, the hustle and bustle of the locals downtown etc. I usually put it in my head where I am going to walk and how long I walk. I would sometimes map it out as per kilometers the same way I would do for my long bike rides. I know it is just a number but as a human; we like to see our achievements. 

Anyway, when I walk the neighborhoods and make my way to the boardwalk at the marina, I walk down the steps to the boardwalk and gaze towards the bridge. I then walk north where I turn to walk the boardwalk behind the Whiskey Rocks and thus make my second left turn and walk until I FALL INTO THE LAKE !!

Yup !!, that is exactly what would happen if I were not paying attention. Since I was paying attention I stop and scratch my head as I look over about 12 feet where the boardwalk continues. As I retrace my steps and climb up the grass and over the right I see where the continuance of the boardwalk is. There is a rubberish mat where the sailor or tourist is supposed to climb before climbing onto rocks before reaching the plateau. To me this is something that needs to be corrected for many reasons. 

Now when people do things like I said earlier, they want them to be fluid without and roadblocks per se. If you are giving a tourist information on things to do and suggest a walk on the boardwalk; what kind of impression would it give if they start their walk and gaze the beauty of the area and then come to a dead end per se. So now they have to back track and wonder why us Canucks wouldn’t have finished construction. As a tourist I would personally think they were not paying attention to detail or didn’t care. 

I am sure the local gov’t does care but may have overlooked this and/or thought it wasn’t a big deal but it is. First impressions are everything. These days with C19 and all of its challenges you need every dollar, every great Trip Advisor review etc. There can be no stone left unturned. 

Aside from the tourists and their impressions; what about the locals etc. It may not seem a big deal but lets say there was a walking group or a group of people walking and they came to this abrupt end….I mean of course it is not the end of the world and they can backtrack around the marina office building and continue on but why? This is a marina and this is a tourist centre in the summer months. Every local tells me that the majority of the income on the Island is driven during the summer season and that being the said….every ounce of resources need to be utilized to make every aspect for the visitors seamless and dynamic. 

I know some are going to argue that this is petty…..but it’s not. If you go to any Michigan tourist area as I have said in the past (Indian River/Petoskey/Charlevoix etc), there is not one pebble out of place. The railings are painted every year, the grass is cut as per by-laws, their safety protocols are set in stone, and their populace is always friendly and informative.

Since we have the beautiful people on the Island greeting our tourists…the only thing really is the cosmetics and attention to detail….hence the boardwalk opinion of mine. Yes, it is just my opinion so please refrain from throwing stones.

Anyway, my hope for the winner of the election would be for that person to please take this seriously and allocate some funds to join the two bridges and make a stairway up the hill. 

I also would like to advise that there is a big safety concern at the western most point of the boardwalk facing the Women’s Institute Beach. A few times I have stumbled over board 31…yes I counted. There is a board that is warped and sticks up 2 inches high and I was told by a local it was brought to the attention of the township and instead of replacing it, they just reversed its location from East to West to West to East……they simply turned it around. I hope this isn’t true but the bottom line is that it needs to be replaced before a young toddler running trips and smashes their teeth. Does the township need a lawsuit? I don’t think so but it would be possible. 

Anyway…I am not putting down the current gov’t as I know they have many things on their plates; I am just making things known that may be overlooked and giving the candidates running a sense of what I (as a tourist per se) would look at as something that would improve my experience here.

One more suggestion to the gov’t post Oct 24; I think three benches like the ones in the marina park by the parking lot should be placed near the lighthouse facing the bridge. Just my thoughts once again.

I have attached pictures but bare with me as I am trying to figure out the best way for photo galleries.