11-03-2020, 11:38 AM
(11-03-2020, 10:52 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: I'm not sure what Chapman's opposition is, they only quoted Gazolla. It really concerns me when I start to agree with Gazolla, but nonetheless here we are. And I mean, it's not entirely that I agree, for one, he says "it's not the city's job"...sure it is, the city's job is whatever the city decides to do within it's legal mandate, this clearly qualifies. He doesn't want it to be the city job and he is entitled to that opinion, but he does not speak for everyone.I have to disagree with you. This is a much better use of city funds than clearing sidewalks. This investment has the potential to create a large number of high paying medical tech jobs and potential start something much larger in the region. The city taking over the responsibly of clearing sidewalks would be no improvement over having residents do it in my opinion. All you have to do is look at the city of London. It takes up to 48 hours after a major snow fall to clear sidewalks. Anecdotally, in my neighbourhood sidewalks are cleared within 24hours. If anything we just need a raise awareness campaign on responsibility of property owners.
But in terms of funding, I'm still angry about the refusal to clear sidewalks, so the fact they'll just up and spend this money, well, again, it bothers me.
I also don't much like the project, that building is surrounded by a sea of parking, if UW really wanted to build it, they could probably sell off all the surrounding parking and fund the entire project with no help from any government. UW is addicted to parking and in my opinion, they can keep their addition out of my downtown.
I don't disagree that UW is in love with surface parking. In reality it probably makes them money. It is a sea of parking in terms of downtown, but in reality its not that big. I also think UW has a future plan for that lot in terms of expanding the health sciences department, which could be accelerated, by this medical research facility.