Question: Who would vote to make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse?
Answer: Ottawa City Council!
Yes, that is what Ottawa City Council did yesterday when it voted to conditionally approve the OSEG’s Lansdowne Plan. Make no mistake, the motion amendments that apparently made the deal sweet enough for a majority of council to approve are pure window dressing. Proposed changes to the deal might even make the matter worse.
Watch out for scope change negotiations as any resulting contract proceeds. With less incremental money coming to OSEG as the city attempts to recover it’s share OSEG will be hot to recover the cash elsewhere.
Also, Councillor Hume’s amendment has no real substance. Design decisions on planned retail areas of Lansdowne will do little to influence the type of retailers who elect to set up shop there. No design competition is going to control OSEG’s right to lease the retail space to whomever they choose, notwithstanding suggestions to the contrary by Councillor Hume.
And don’t expect ongoing transportation/transit planning to produce any significant improvements. Lansdowne is still a landlocked site on Bank Street with serious traffic congestion and only limited access to public transit. Nothing can change this.
It is unlikely that significant changes will result from these studies to be undertaken by city staff and consultants. And it is unlikely that council’s decision will be any different in May 2010. The high point of any contract award is typically the day the contract is signed; from that point forward it’s usually downhill. It’s as if they have signed the contract already. And remember, it’s still an unethical sole-source deal!
Over the past few months many people have commented that the public consultation process was simply window dressing. This observation is clearly correct. A large body of negative feedback from citizens during the consultation process and from public delegations last week has been largely ignored. Is this what democracy means in the City of Ottawa? Citizens of Ottawa, at the next municipal election, vote with your feet!
About Me
- Colin Hine
- I’m a recently retired management consultant. For much of my career I worked in the aerospace industry for firms in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. I’ve always been interested in politics, but it’s only since retiring that I have become active in this area. Over the past four years I have become disillusioned by what I have seen both on the local municipal scene in the City of Ottawa as well as at senior levels of government. I am now convinced that corporate influences (financial and others) are increasingly diluting the democratic processes of government. Government representatives no longer pay attention to the views and concerns of the general public and we are increasingly bombarded with propaganda and diverted by red herrings. chmorland706@gmail.com
1 comment:
You hit the nail on the head Colin. I hope Hume will fight to the end to prevent Kanata Centrum from being built at Lansdowne Park, but I suspect he will capitulate when Greenberg refuses to negotiate.
The redevelopment of Lansdowne Park has been a very good example of very poor governance on the part of City Council and staff. Both are guilty of failing to protect the best interests of the majority.
The way in which Lansdowne Live was rammed through really stinks. A competitive process would have made it legitimate, even if LL won, but without it, LL is tainted and will be until this mistake is corrected.
Post a Comment