Letters to the Editor...A town is more than a collection of subdivisions

Dear editor, I read Lisa Tallyn's article in the March 2 edition and had to laugh. Not due to the review of our newest grocery store, but from the feedback she received by local Georgetown South residents. I have lived here now for just over three years, previously residing in the big, bad city of Toronto. For all that Toronto offers, whenever I travelled to other parts of the province or country, mentioning Toronto quite often and unfairly seemed to convey a certain arrogance or a certain entitlement, somehow implying that I was saying that "I'm better than you". Just because I lived there I was lumped in with this image. I would find myself defending the city by reminding people of the vibrant culture and entertainment it had to offer, but really it had to do more with defending my own personality. I am certainly not arrogant or "better than" anyone, but that was always the impression. Then, while reading your paper, I couldn't believe I came to a letter stating, "We have always been the Cinderella to Georgetown" written, presumably, by a resident in the area now considered as Georgetown South. This is the part where I laughed. This is a great term coined by our friendly, albeit marketing savvy, real estate sales agents, who want to convey their message of a "preferred" area to buy a home. Rather than advertising "An area yet over-developed, without the boundaries and growth restrictions of the beautiful Credit River and Silver Creek, with vast open farm fields just waiting for profitable new construction and the closest point to Toronto", the term "Georgetown South" certainly sounds more appealing. I have grown to love Georgetown. Providing we keep an eye on balancing development with infrastructure, I could live here for some time to come. Maybe we need to remind the newest residents to look west, north and east to see what makes this town whole. Many people lived here before I did and created a town where I chose to buy a home. Let's stop the labels and recognize that a town is more than a bunch of new subdivisions built on the most viable land still available to build the homes, where people maybe just want to share in what was here in the first place. Enough with labels and divisive marketing tactics. Can't we all just get along?