Under the Renew Thunder Bay Reserve Fund, we the taxpayers are being asked to pay more. Contribute to the renewal of our city. Creating a civic phoenix rising from the ashes of recession so to speak. It is hard to argue with the idea of making Thunder Bay a more beautiful, more livable community. A place we all can be proud to call home. The idea may have merit. That has yet to be seen. The priority of the projects the money will be spent on is the larger issue.
So far, the city of Thunder Bay has committed in excess of $60M of public funds on the waterfront. All that money has been spent in an area of the waterfront which was already developed. Marina Park. A beautiful park. Not just my opinion. Visitors from all over the world agree.
The result? Six-hundred metres of redeveloped waterfront park land at a cost of over $60M. Phase One of Prince Arthur‘s Landing will be built. Those dollars have been spent.
Water under the bridge.
Phase Two is another story. A new marina and a cruise ship terminal. An additional 400 metres of waterfront improvement. How much will this cost? I believe that a cost of $40M-$50M is not out of the question. Maybe more. If that is the case, then $100M in tax dollars will have been spent with a gain of 400 metres of developed waterfront to our city.
Think about that for a minute. One-tenth of a billion tax dollars to add 400 metres of developed/usable waterfront land to the city.
Half of that newly usable land will be a new marina. The other half will be a cruise ship terminal. This is the project that this city council has deemed number one on the list of projects that the Renew Thunder Bay Reserve Fund will be used for. In their opinion, with all of all the maintenance/upgrade issues that our existing infrastructure/facilities/parks have, none of them are more important than the construction of a new marina and cruise ship terminal. Nothing.
I ask you to consider this carefully. Does one kilometre of waterfront deserve $100M of public funding? Is there nothing in this city, nothing that will improve the quality of life for the citizens, that deserves to be moved up the priority list ahead of the marina and cruise ship facilities?
The next time you drive through the city, look around. The next time you are using one of our parks, look around. The next time you are in one of our recreation facilities, look around.
The next time you are visiting a museum or admiring the flowers at the conservatory, look around. You decide what belongs on top of that list. Then tell someone what you think. Tell your councillor. It is, after all, your money. It is, after all, your city.
Jon Hutt
Thunder Bay
Source: The Chronicle Journal
