This type of damage is unacceptable. The ATV riders should be punished. BUT the people that knowingly brought this problem to our community should be held responsible in some way, they should at least stand up and demonstrate accountability because they are elected officials. I know who is responsible for the root cause of this damage and the increase (over 10 times) of ATV crime in our communities. And if you are a regular reader of my articles around this social issue, you do to. For those that don't know, keep reading.

Hint #1 HERE 

The councilor complaining about the graveyard damage and the Mayor have 4 years worth of local video testimony and expert opinions from police service, engineering firms, respected community leaders and provincial and national health professionals in their inboxes that say they were making a big mistake by perverting a decade long Active Transportation Trail project into a Residential ATV Trail (RAT) instead. This mistake has:

• Cost CBRM taxpayers $millions in lost funding that was made available for Active Transportation by the federal government
• Cost taxpayers annually for increase in trail insurance premiums ("all trails" are affected as I understand it) to promote motorized vehicle use on public trails
• Increased ATV related crime in our communities by 10 times as seen here in this article (this is not a few bad apples, it is a considerable number of ATV riders breaking our laws)
• Increased the number of ATV related deaths (promotion of use of ATVs in dense residential areas) in CBRM
• Increased community damage as shown here in this article and at the end of this article.

Neither elected official has admitted the mistake they have made and have not yet met with the community in 5 years since this all started. This lack of accountability will see more damage like this, more ATV related crime and unfortunately more death.

The root cause of all this is the Residential ATV Trail (RAT) and if the current cohort of elected officials are unwilling to fix the underlying issue or even speak to the communities about it, then maybe they should grab a shovel and a rake and go fix this damage themselves, right?

Hint #2

Official statement from the current mayor of CBRM (2023), in the Mayor's office, promoting the increased use of ATVs in dense residential areas. This is fact and public. ATVs are killing Cape Bretoners more than ever and destroying our beautiful seaside community but....

Community damage from ATVs, in CBRM.

• CBRM & The Environment
• Cape Breton group blames ATV riders for vandalism · Posted: June 13, 2021  
• Sydney airport officials disgusted after vandals cause thousands of dollars in damage· Posted: June 10, 2021, 2:20 p.m.  
• Cape Breton Regional Municipality must step in to ban motorized vehicles from Coal Town Trail Danger on Cape Breton trail · Posted: May 25, 2021, 1:30 p.m.  
• ATVs on Coal Town Trail cause a rift with some residents of Cape Breton community · Posted: May 18, 2021, 2:20 p. m  
• ATV'rs a big source of litter along trails Posted May 6, 2021, 3:50 p.m. 
• Cape Breton port facility dealing with signs of disrespect and crime Posted: June 7, 2021, 1:51 p.m.