Bitter Sweet Symphony

Well it seems to me that in and around the city of sarnia there happens to be this low key battle being raged. Theres this old saying "pick your battles" well the BSS (Bitter Sweet Symphony) is just this.

There was a time when i was a kid going to sarnia was the greatest thing in the world it meant going to see family and going to learn from my grandfather building and welding and playing in the local parks (www.sarnia.worldweb.com/sightsattractions/parksgardens/) Since my grandfather lived closer to the down town that is where we would wonder to going in and out of the shops and hitting up the bayside mall as sarnia grew bigger there was this great plan to but in another mall out on the out skirts of town. This would be the begining and the end for a large part of sarnia.

The Lambton mall monster was on its way built and shops with there doors open for business it seemed like a good idea at the time but with some poor planning and some crack heads in city hall little did they know the monster would slowly and surly bring down the down town.


I don't think any one realized that this moster would cripple the down town slowly but surly as i was a kid the down town started to suffer and bussnessis started going under and vacent buildings were left there to rot. the people in city hall you would think would have noticed this seeing how there office is right down town but maybe not close enoung down town. Sure the moster created min wage paying jobs sure it might have created 1000 jobs but how many people lost there jobs and bussnisses?


WALMART the biggest pile of poop in the monster was great everything you needed and cheap. Yes even i learned that at the monster had the cool shops to shop at and yes i will admit i lost faith in the down town i jumped on the monster ban wagon and never looked back. we even lost sigh of our good old canaidian owned and operated zellers. As time went on the monster sucked people away from there neighbourhood stores and the rave was about the monster. Many years went by and nothing was going on in sarnia same old people move in and people moved out stores opened and stores closed.

See i grew up back in the woods you see me my sister brother mom and dad and dog we could do anything out there start fires fore the fun of it, blow shit up , fuck shit up, drive around on go carts and jsut live a clean quit country life. one of my fav time of the year in the counrty was harvest time when all the corn and beans and all crops would come off the sound of combines and tractors from early in the morning to late at night the counrty came alive and was bussy everyone had there part even i did even tho my family weren't farmes we were surounded by them and we would help even if it ment sitting in the tractor with our next door neighbour we were helping and a part of something bigger and better then anything else. we were a neighbourhood we would help eachother out in harvest and in times of need. if we had a bad year we would all suffer if somone got hurt we would all hurt we the counrty folk are the back bone of all society if we brake the hole counrty would suffer.


there was just something about driving along and seeing nothing but bush feild and homes where people worked lived and played a place where a man could make a hard but honest living where a man would shed more blood sweet and tears in a year then some would in there hole lives.


The land was the biggest part it was the land that makes you or breaks you sure ssome years the land was better then others and sure some land was flat and some were hilly like in the peaks of mosa but the thing was the land is never consistent too much water hurts the crops not enough water hurts the crops. do you see what i'm getting at yet?


The land a man would dream of would be flat open and have feet and feet of the best soil in the world perhaps and old lake that was drained out would be the best.


As the years went on the monster crushed the down town of sarnia a blow that would take twice as long to fix as it took to destroy. Walmart one year desided that the no longer needed the monster and went out to make a bigger and better walmart. some would argue that it was a good thing some would bag to differ. you would think with all the pain and suffering going on behind closed doors in the city that i would be a boost to the city and maybe even a lift of moral to build a walmart closer to the heart of the city with empty lots and empty plants there were lots of options to bring life back to the city where it all started.


Wroung the city desided it was best to contiune to buil futher and futher outside of the city wich let to the walmart super center a hunk a shit that can bee seen from miles away outside the city. as in the begining as it is in the end the monster was left with a huge vacant store and walmart was once again pulling people further out of the city.


Sarnia needed a quick fix to make jobs suport its self once again. Lowes and Cosco is the answer. to me and many i feel that this is the end of all hope. people arn't even shoping at there neighbourhood foodlands and more cause there going to walmart if you look at the city sarnia has homehard wear a home depo and a rona (wich i feel is suffering out in the indutral part of sania) i wonder what would happen to all these stores if a lowes went in sure it would creat jobs but it woulkd also leave other stores hurt and possible have to shut there doors wich in reture would creat a huge job loss and the same goes with cosco.

But where in the world would you put something like this in the city where it would help and people could walk there or futher out into the country? yep you got it further out into the country in the BlackWell Marsh the greatest farming land for miles around. i really don't know whats going in inside the city halls officals heads except one. Who happens to also be a farmer and know the great value of this land and know that a cosco and lowes would kill the rest of the city.

it seems to me that building further ouside the city is the thing to do rather then good planning and some good old thinking. some good planning and thinking you could rebuild this city but not on rock and roll but on comen sense.


what i think personally the city needs are more smaller shops down town or even where the vacant building are. but who knows what will happen will the city keep self destructing its self or will they wake up and smell the marsh and realize that its the city its self needs help not bigger and badder stores

i don't know whats going to happen but i know that there is a good old boy working for the city of sarnia and has his head in the right place( not up eachothers asses)

so we could be facing another big blow to our beloved sarnhole, time will tell hopefully everyone in this makes a wise and smart choice and think before the act and think about more then there bank acounts.


SAVE THE BLACKWELL MARSH