Why My Motion to Reconsider the Chateau Laurier Design Was the Best Option
At the specially-held council meeting on the Chateau Laurier re-design of Thursday, July 12th, I put forward a motion for the purpose of reconsideration and to offer other City Councillors a 7 week period of sober second thought. I’ve heard loud and clear from my residents that giving time for Council to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new plan is the best course of action. My intention was to buy at least seven more weeks for your voices to be heard and for the proponent and representatives to dialogue to see if a better design could have been brought forth. But unfortunately that’s not happening. This has been one of the most disappointing times for me in my years as a City Councillor because the public has an expectation of what they want in their city and clearly that wasn’t met. Also because we laid out a clear case against the proposed Chateau design to the point that despite the fact that the majority agreed with us, they still voted for the design.
While the focus now turns from City Hall regarding what’s next, it’s time to show the owners of the historic hotel how you feel. There’s power in numbers and instead of lobbying council, we need to turn our attention to the business owners. The owners could make a decision based on backlash from the public. The federal government could also intervene at any time and in the worst case scenario, expropriate the property and sell it back.
I look forward to continued dialogue with my constituents on this issue, and hope that moving forward, you continue to show how you feel about the design because once it’s built, you’ll be able to see it right in front of you, and the very thing you might have been opposed to.
While the focus now turns from City Hall regarding what’s next, it’s time to show the owners of the historic hotel how you feel. There’s power in numbers and instead of lobbying council, we need to turn our attention to the business owners. The owners could make a decision based on backlash from the public. The federal government could also intervene at any time and in the worst case scenario, expropriate the property and sell it back.
I look forward to continued dialogue with my constituents on this issue, and hope that moving forward, you continue to show how you feel about the design because once it’s built, you’ll be able to see it right in front of you, and the very thing you might have been opposed to.
