Dearest Mayor and Ottawa City Council:
Congratulations!
You managed to piss off an entire city with your bone-headed agreement to go ahead with a ghastly addition to the iconic Chateau Laurier. Ottawa now boasts a population of one million people, and I reckon, the only people who agreed with the addition were you lot and the owners.
You chose to ignore the wishes of the populace of Ottawa, ignoring calls of Shame and boos from the gallery and a hasty petition of 8,500 people, and went ahead and gave the deal the green light. Did it even occur to you, as you tried to manage the torrent of angry emails from constituents, that maybe you needed to pause and reflect?
The whole situation reminded me of a scene from the movie Father of the Bride 2 when George Banks decides to sell the family home to a guy named Mr. Habib because George was going through a mid-life crisis. Mr. Habib immediately begins to topple the home where George sketched the heights of his kids growing up, and built a garden of love. When George realizes what he's done, after nearly losing his family who are rightly pissed at him, he tries to buy the home back from Mr. Habib only days after the deal, and is forced to give the new owner double the price.
George agrees, of course, because he loves his family so much, he would do anything for them. It's a classic comedy plot, which needs a crisis or misunderstanding to create mayhem and hilarity. We know it isn't real. And it certainly isn't hilarious when applied to real life.
What it is sad, and infuriating.
You turned a tone deaf ear to the cries of the very people you represent. Why? Because you're just trying to save your hides.
When the Larco group first bought the Chateau, its principals went out of their way to assure the public that nothing would change at the Chateau. Just like George, you swallowed their baloney, hook line and sinker because they had big wads of sweaty money.
Sure, it's a private investment, we understand that. But you should have made their lives just as miserable as you make the rest of us. Toronto Star Columnist Susan Delacourt put it best, explaining that when she made restorations to her little pile in New Edinburgh, she and her husband were warned they weren't allowed to add an inch to the height of their property. An inch!
And yet, you have allowed this farce to go on for five years, and allow for something akin to a Bulk Barn to be added to the back of the Chateau. Why? Because they might sue. We've been warned it could cost each of us 20 cents if Larco litigates.
That's not much we say. But it's a lot of a city who is on the hook for other bone-headed deals such as the LRT fiasco, in which millions of dollars has been thrown into a giant sinkhole. Meanwhile, millions more are being doled out because the project is two years late. Millions of frickin' dollars in overtime for workers, and for extra buses all because you chose to work with a company that is the Ferris Bueller of transportation.
What worries me most is that you pretty much kept everything on the down low until the 11th hour. Mr. Mayor, you and the previous council then quietly punted the matter until after the election, leaving the decisions to staff. You abrogated your responsibility for this entire mess, and went off to Bluesfest to piss on the War Museum.
Shame!
It's not over. I hear Catherine Mckenna, the federal minister for Ottawa, is getting involved. I hope she takes you to the woodshed and paddles your butts into pancakes. I hope that's what happens.
I'm still are starry optimist who believes in the rights of the people.
Whatever happens, people are mad. I hope you all are uninvited to everything but the Chateau and are forced to take high tea but only during construction.
Congratulations!
You managed to piss off an entire city with your bone-headed agreement to go ahead with a ghastly addition to the iconic Chateau Laurier. Ottawa now boasts a population of one million people, and I reckon, the only people who agreed with the addition were you lot and the owners.
You chose to ignore the wishes of the populace of Ottawa, ignoring calls of Shame and boos from the gallery and a hasty petition of 8,500 people, and went ahead and gave the deal the green light. Did it even occur to you, as you tried to manage the torrent of angry emails from constituents, that maybe you needed to pause and reflect?
The whole situation reminded me of a scene from the movie Father of the Bride 2 when George Banks decides to sell the family home to a guy named Mr. Habib because George was going through a mid-life crisis. Mr. Habib immediately begins to topple the home where George sketched the heights of his kids growing up, and built a garden of love. When George realizes what he's done, after nearly losing his family who are rightly pissed at him, he tries to buy the home back from Mr. Habib only days after the deal, and is forced to give the new owner double the price.
George agrees, of course, because he loves his family so much, he would do anything for them. It's a classic comedy plot, which needs a crisis or misunderstanding to create mayhem and hilarity. We know it isn't real. And it certainly isn't hilarious when applied to real life.
What it is sad, and infuriating.
You turned a tone deaf ear to the cries of the very people you represent. Why? Because you're just trying to save your hides.
When the Larco group first bought the Chateau, its principals went out of their way to assure the public that nothing would change at the Chateau. Just like George, you swallowed their baloney, hook line and sinker because they had big wads of sweaty money.
Sure, it's a private investment, we understand that. But you should have made their lives just as miserable as you make the rest of us. Toronto Star Columnist Susan Delacourt put it best, explaining that when she made restorations to her little pile in New Edinburgh, she and her husband were warned they weren't allowed to add an inch to the height of their property. An inch!
And yet, you have allowed this farce to go on for five years, and allow for something akin to a Bulk Barn to be added to the back of the Chateau. Why? Because they might sue. We've been warned it could cost each of us 20 cents if Larco litigates.
That's not much we say. But it's a lot of a city who is on the hook for other bone-headed deals such as the LRT fiasco, in which millions of dollars has been thrown into a giant sinkhole. Meanwhile, millions more are being doled out because the project is two years late. Millions of frickin' dollars in overtime for workers, and for extra buses all because you chose to work with a company that is the Ferris Bueller of transportation.
What worries me most is that you pretty much kept everything on the down low until the 11th hour. Mr. Mayor, you and the previous council then quietly punted the matter until after the election, leaving the decisions to staff. You abrogated your responsibility for this entire mess, and went off to Bluesfest to piss on the War Museum.
Shame!
It's not over. I hear Catherine Mckenna, the federal minister for Ottawa, is getting involved. I hope she takes you to the woodshed and paddles your butts into pancakes. I hope that's what happens.
I'm still are starry optimist who believes in the rights of the people.
Whatever happens, people are mad. I hope you all are uninvited to everything but the Chateau and are forced to take high tea but only during construction.
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