More Downtown Madness

The Brantford City Council, in it's infinite wisdom, has voted six to five to go ahead with the expropriation of a number of buildings on the south side of Colborne St. for some unstated use.

I have a number of problems with this. First if it is such a good idea why was it done in such a rush without proper time for consultation with the public. It is announced (or leaked) at the end of last week then all three readings of the bylaw are rushed through on Monday night after an hour's discussion. Some show of democracy.

And I have a real problem with this whole expropriation thing. There has been no plans shown for what these buildings (or more likely the land they sit on) are to be used for. But the suggestion is that some will be sold or given to the University or the Y for the construction of sports facilities. Expropriation is a powerful tool and should not be used lightly. And it should not be used by the City to acquire properties for third parties. What if someone wanted your property and you didn't want to sell it to them or couldn't agree on a price, is it then okay for the City to expropriate your property for them? I think not. This mass expropriation also opens a can of worms where ongoing native land claims are involved. If one of these claims is successful could not the natives demand that the Provincial of Federal Government expropriate the disputed land to satisfy their demands? The City would have lost any moral right to oppose such a move.

And really why are spending any more money on the downtown? The old downtown is dead and gone years ago. It's never coming back. Council should deal with this fact and move on. Retail and other businesses and consumers have moved to either King George Rd or the Lynden Rd. area. Make this the new downtown focus and you have a thriving area. We have seen over the years what a complete failure successive councils have been with their schemes for the old downtown area. From the closing of Market St., to the Eaton's /Market square, to the acquiring of the former strip club, to the bus terminal that needs replacing after less than ten year of it's existence and even to new businesses on the Harmony Square that have failed already. And according to certain Councilors the way to preserve the downtown is to destroy this strip of buildings. Hello! Does this make any sense at all?

And how realistic is the cost estimates? Less than $12 million? Very doubtful. Expropriation can be a slow and costly process with huge legal fees. And at a time when the average taxpayer has seen the value of their houses go down and is faced with an over 8% property tax increase for this year (yes, 8%, more the 3% in an actual tax increase which is on top of an average 5% increase in assessed value). The Council seems happy to do the bidding of developers and the University while ignoring the plight of the taxpayer. The only thing expected from the taxpayer is to pay and pay and pay for these pipe dreams. There has been more money spent per square inch in the downtown over the years than on any other part of the City. And with little to show for it. It's time to concentrate on other problems in Brantford like the overcrowding of the hospital's emergency room, the lack of doctors, crumbling infrastructure, lack of long term care facilities for seniors, growing crime rates, the list goes on and on of thing that should be the top priorities for this Council rather than Colborne St. Things where extra money should be spent and real results could be produced.

Get your heads out of the downtown sand Council and scrap this plan. Is the next election really still almost a years and a half away?