In what
has to be considered a partial victory for KCAL and other LVEC opponents, Kingston City Council has decided to look at another site downtown for the LVEC project.
A "last-minute" amendment by Councillor George Sutherland to look at the "North Block" saved the project from the dustbin. It's a
four-block area downtown, bounded by Place D'Armes, Ontario, Queen & Wellington Streets. The problem is that King Harvey's Task Force has already looked at the site once and rejected it and the parking and traffic problems still remain the same: very little of the former and too much of the latter.
I'm questioning the "last-minute" nature of the amendment on a couple of grounds: when he introduced it, Councillor Sutherland used the phrase "As you know, Your Worship, I cannot support the Anglin Bay site ...". Obviously, there was a discussion at some earlier point about this. Then, during debate on the amendment, His Majesty pulled out a prepared speech on the matter.
Oh, it was a surprise all right ...I still don't understand what's wrong with the
Memorial Centre site. (It's the big grey square in the centre of the map) The city owns it, so property acquisition is nil; it has
astronomically better road access and loads of parking room.
It's interesting to note that Deputy Mayor Foster seems to be viewing any opposition to the Anglin Bay site as a personal attack. She chaired the committee that selected that dog's breakfast in the first place. When Council finally listens to the will of the voters (our petition drive is over 4,000 signatures) and chooses an appropriate site that won't impact so heavily on its surroundings, she's going to find herself out in the cold if she doesn't change her attitude in a big hurry.
