Regarding city councilor Garth Frizzell's guest editorial - "Blanket generalizations won't cut it," May 24 Citizen
He states, in capital letters "THERE ARE MASSIVE INFRASTRUCTURE CRISES IN CANADIAN MUNICIPALITIES."
He also mentions that our beloved city is in the midst of "a storm," in reference to our infrastructure needs.
Has Coun. Frizzell or any of his associates on council stopped to consider what is actually going on and are they seeing the forest for the trees?
So the mantra from our city council is "old infrastructure" and now we have "a storm."
The question that begs to be asked is what is city council doing to "weather the storm?"
Is tearing down city assets and filling the garbage dump with these assets the answer?
For example; the latest Foothills Boulevard Regional Landfill acquisition of city assets was the old police station built in 1972 and torn down last fall.
At the age of 46 and made from solid concrete and steel (good for another 60 years plus), the building was relegated as garbage and, to the tune of a million dollars, was torn down and hauled away.
Instead of tossing the two-storey building into the dump, why wasn't it renovated and used to accommodate the administrative needs of the fire department (emergency callout and training facility)?
But in some blinded decision, the building had to come down and a new fire hall to the tune of $15 million must be built in a location of a previous swamp and landfill.
So by the time the fire hall is built, there will most certainly be cost overruns and it wouldn't surprise me that the fire hall will come in at probably $20 million.
Add interest charges on the borrowed money and we are close to the $30 million mark.
Now consider what's next.
The old Days' Inn, the old fire hall
No. 1 and the old Four Seasons pool are all heading for the dump to the tune of millions for deconstruction and disposal to the local landfill. How is this even environmentally responsible towards our landfill sites?
The Day's Inn was purchased for $4.5 million, only to be torn down costing the taxpayer into the million dollar plus figure. The reason?
To make room for a new $35 million pool, which would replace Four Seasons pool a block away, built in 1970, which could be renovated for $15 million.
On that note, the City of Terrace recently renovated their 45 year old pool for $8.8 million and the City of Vanderhoof recently built a new pool for $12 million. So it would be easy to conclude that a $15 million renovation of the Four Season Pool would have had amazing results.
Fire Hall No. 1 (built in 1957) is 62 years old. But does that mean it's at the end of life?
Station 312 located at 34 Yorkville Avenue in Toronto was built in 1878 and responds to more than 5,000 calls each year. So Fire Hall No. 1 is only middle-aged by the City of Toronto standards.
Take a drive by Fire Hall No. 1, located next to city hall. That's still a good looking building. Should that go to the dump at the cost of millions?
If city council are in need of some insight or inspiration, then look at what the private sector has done in recent years.
The Royal Bank building located at 550 Victoria Street was built in the mid-60s, (as a young boy I watched the building go up).
They recently did a complete redo of the exterior of the building; updating its look and energy efficiency.
At 50-plus years of age, it looks great and good for another 50 plus years.
Consider the Integris Credit Union at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Central Street.
It is a beautiful building, built on the sight of an old mall which included a convenience store.
It was very interesting and frugal on the part of Integris to save part of the previous building because they saw a cost-saving value in it.
The "storm" Coun. Frizzell speaks of in his letter to The Citizen is self-inflicted by city council and it's no wonder they are pressing to borrow millions more and that citizens are pushing back as they feel the pinch in their ever-increasing property taxes and utility bills.
As homeowners look for efficiencies to meet the demand to keep their homes, what is city council doing to control cost?
Fire Hall No. 1 does not need replacing. Save $15 million.
Four Seasons can be renovated for
$15 million instead of replaced for
$35 million.
Save $20 million.
Days' Inn should never have been purchased, saving $4.5 million.
Old police station should never have been torn down, saving $1 million.
That's $40.5 million saved (before interest charges of about $20 million).
The old police station is gone and room for a fire training centre and emergency call out are still needed.
This could be easily solved at the saving of millions. It's just that our council needs to see the forest for the trees.
- Edward J. Denicola,
Prince George
