Cursed

Many years ago when the farmer's market was moved off the market square, an old Indian woman put a curse on the property saying that it was only supposed to be used as a market (an early type of land claim, I guess). I believe that this woman has long since passed away but her curse seems to live on and to have spread to the rest of the downtown.

The first sign of this curse working was that the Market Square Mall that was built on this property has been a continuing massive failure. It was constructed as a building with mostly long brick walls with few windows (Brantford's version of the Berlin wall) , and turned Colborne St. into a type of canyon. It also resulted in the closing of the block of Market St. between Colborne and Dalhousie Sts. and the disappearance of the final block of George St. and the loss of all the shops located along it. (funny how in Brantford whose who have contributed to an area for years are bulldozed over in pursuit of the new). When it opened, it had two levels of retail space but those business quickly failed one by one including the large Eaton's anchor store. Today, only a couple of retail businesses occupy space in there. It was then transformed into commercial space, but that too has failed, with the two major call centres that were located there having left as well. It has also be plagued with air quality problems and has been evacuated several times due to mysterious fumes. The only major tenant is the City of Brantford, who I believe is now the real owner of this property, but leases it to someone else then leases back the space (confused?, I am). Whatever, millions and millions and millions of tax dollars have be squandered on this building.

And then several years ago, the experts, planners and consultants decided what downtown Brantford needed was a focal point, a people square, and a pale imitation of this original market square in the form of the Harmony Square was created. More millions and millions and million of dollars were squandered due to this first decision.

And now word has come that expected funds for the building of the new WLU/Y building has not come through while the destruction of all those Colborne St. properties steamrolls ahead. The prospect is that there will be just a long gap of empty space as no other projects seem to be in place at this time either. As well, it seems that Mohawk College will not be buying the Expositor building (I've switched my subscription to short term) any time soon as funding for this from senior levels of government has not materialized. So, unless the City council picks up the millions and millions of needed funding (property taxes would become prohibitive) , chalk up two more failed downtown projects.

The building of this property on the original market square seems to have started the major decline in the downtown that continues today whether due to a curse, or not. Maybe instead of ripping down all those buildings on the south side of Colborne St., Mr. Littell and the rest of council could wake up to the fact that this building has been a colossal mistake and tear it down instead.

Witnessing History

If watching the Olympic Torch pass through Brantford is witnessing history being made (a dubious claim at best), will thousands gather on Colborne St. to watch the tearing down of those buildings to witness history being destroyed?

Buying The Expositor Building

So now the struggling Brantford Expositor has found a buyer for it's old building. And surprise, surprise it's the taxpayer in the form of Mohawk College. Haven't I pointed out before that the Expositor has a major financial stake in all the money being spent to revitalize the downtown and now it has paid off for them. And despite denials the City Council has agreed to buy the old Mohawk campus so that they can use these tax dollars to help finance the deal. Just another one of the secret deals that this council likes to make while keeping the taxpayers in the dark until it is too late. Far, far more money has been spent per square inch on the downtown than any other area of the city.The only solution is to throw them all out. And another reason that the ward system should be abolished and all councilors should be elected by all of the people of Brantford.

And of course, while the Expositor can see no historical value in saving any of the 41 buildings that are slated to be demolished on the south side of Colborne St., they feel that that saving their building is a noble and worthwhile cause. Talk about an overblown sense of self worth. It will be interesting to see if the Expositor even relocates in the city or just becomes an added page of local news in the Toronto Sun, which is almost the case now.