To the Editor,
Re: City purchases waterfront rail yard, Dec. 14.
The City of Nanaimo’s recent purchase of the Wellcox property and its apparent plan for the property have me very deeply concerned.
Firstly, the property itself is a liability that no commercial buyer was prepared to take on, so why our city manager and council would think Nanaimo taxpayers would want any part of it is beyond me.
Secondly, I’ve been hearing murmurs that the City of Nanaimo has plans to build some sort of multi-purpose theatre, sport and shopping complex on the property for the purpose of attracting tourists and cruiseship operators to the city. In my worst nightmares I can’t imagine a more ill-conceived or ill-timed project as the City of Nanaimo building yet another multi-purpose complex to attract tourism to the city.
I mean, we have both a theatre and a multi-purpose conference and convention centre downtown, neither of which is able to support itself. We have a new sports facility and a recently renovated one, and I don’t believe either is maxed out in terms of use.
The world economy, particularly the U.S. economy, are in dire straits, and despite the pablum being bandied about concerning a recovery, the underlying issues of debt have not been addressed.
So I think it’s fair to say the economic woes are not over, and tourism is always the first industry to be hurt in such situations.
Yet our city seems prepared to take a ‘build it and they will come’ approach, despite it not having worked the past few times.
Council continues to rack up more bills, increase taxes, and spend as though some miracle windfall were just around the corner. I’m sorry but I simply don’t believe tourism will solve our problems. I would much rather the city take a real view of the situation.
Decrease taxes, attract companies and industries to Nanaimo, and put money back into the pockets of residents.
Stop fantasizing and spending our money on tourists, and start thinking of the city’s actual residents.
Brendan Millbank
Nanaimo
