Look Conrad, why don’t you just tell us what you want us to think. What you want us to say. Lets just get this public information circus over. It is obvious that the decision has already been made.
What to do with the FW Gardens should have been decided BEFORE the Phase 2 Feasibility Study. That way these costs, the costs of whatever is decided to do with the Gardens, will have been included in the total cost of the Event Centre. Hmmm….
In fact, doing nothing to the Gardens and renovating/expanding the Gardens should have been two options that the City of Thunder Bay considered.
If replacement was the chosen option, then the funding the demolition or whatever that will be done to the FW Gardens is part of the Event Centre project and should have been included in the total $106 million price tag. ($109 million, maybe more, if you include demolition)
I believe that the Phase 2 Feasibility Study assumes that the FW Gardens will no longer exist after the construction of the Event Centre. It makes no mention of events that would be held at the Gardens. The Gardens would compete against the Event Centre and be a cheaper alternative for local events.
This whole exercise is just plain stupid and I believe that there is a reason for this stupidity. Renovating the FW Gardens would cost much, much less that $106 million ($109 million, maybe more) and there is the rub.
A less expensive renovated FW Gardens stand in the way of the $106 million (109 million maybe more) public sector gift to the private sector.
We are being manipulated here. First the Gardens is a dump, needs to be replaced. Now its no longer a dump and needs to be saved. Costs hidden. Split. Separated.
