Letters to the editor..others say town is `no longer small'

Dear editor, I just wanted to respond to all the letter writers who find fault with opening a new theatre in town. I have lived in Georgetown all my life, gone to school and worked here. I have seen Georgetown grow from a small town to what it is today. If you want to see a small town then look at Acton. Georgetown has become a bedroom community with people traveling to different locations to work. I would say a great number of these people do their big shopping in the larger centers. I don't believe that opening a newer, more modern, movie theatre is going to impact the way the town is perceived, other than to bring it up to date. I don't know if any of the writers who criticized the opening of a new theatre have ever been inside the old one. I was one of the people who did attend the show on a regular basis. The seats were uncomfortable, the floors always sticky and gummy bears were affixed to the screens in increasing numbers. It was never modernized, nor was it refurbished in any way. I do not like to travel to Brampton just because of the traffic and how much it has become like Toronto, so when the new theatre opened in Milton I was happy to have a place to go and watch a movie that was up to date, clean, comfortable and within driving distance. I can't see that having a new modern movie theatre in town is going to detract from what we have in the town but only bring us up to date. Georgetown is no longer a small town; we have Brampton on our doorstep and we only continue to grow, it's not going to stop. Once the new stores open in Georgetown South fewer people will have the need to travel to the downtown core. I believe Georgetown South is a logical place to build a new theatre. When Georgetown was a "small" town there was no McDonald's, no Wal-Mart, one high school and five public schools. There was one arena and two grocery stores, there was no Georgetown South and Canadian Tire was where the Carpet Barn is today. The show was beside the Salvation Army. There were 12,000 people. The changes to the town have made it better. The changes, had they not been made, would have crippled the town's economy. With all these changes Georgetown is still one of the best places to live and raise your family. A new movie theatre is not going to threaten this way of life but only add to it by having us spend our money here and not in another centre and by making it more convenient for an individual or a family to enjoy a movie in comfortable surroundings. James Scarlett, Georgetown