LETTER: A plea to reason about Hope Station House

Dear Mayor Robb and councillors:

I was part of the film crew that filmed “First Blood” in your community. As someone who has worked as a location scout, Hope was obviously attractive because it offered the charm of a small town. I worked as the set dresser on that film and got to know your streets, your buildings and your community members firsthand, and what I saw impressed me greatly. I saw a place proud of its main street and the wealth of its past that influenced all of what brought the production to your community.

Also, as someone who is an award-winning heritage restorer, you will understand why I am in favour of not only saving the Hope rail station but restoring it. However, this is not a pitch for my services – it is a plea to reason.

Currently, I am a world away, restoring a 19th-century stone house in Greece. As part of the E.U., Greece knows the attractiveness of the cultural heritage to tourism. It is the life blood of their nation in particular.

In the most basic terms, heritage brings income as well as apprecation for unique geographies and populations. That income builds a future that is based on that history. If the representative infrastructure of the past is missing a town becomes so much less than its potential.

I cannot insist in terms stronger than to beg you not to demolish the rail station. It would be a mistake in no uncertain terms. Financial concerns can be known, understood and overcome, doubly so with the revival and implementation of the original station, recognizing how rich and interesting the community Hope’s past is and can be.

Jeremy Borsos