Yesterday (May 27) there was a presentation by architects about the lovely buildings that could be built at Lansdowne Park. Mayor O'Brien said he had told the architectural team that he wanted people to shout out "WOW!" on seeing the ideas presented.
Actually no one stood up and shouted wow. Some of us thought that if we were about to be given a big gift by the city we also would take the time to draw some pretty pictures.
No one mentioned at the event that it is proposed the city's taxpayers pay 100% of the cost of the sinuous stadium. No one noted that the city is to kick in millions to provide parking for the shoppers in the stores at Lansdowne.
As usual, no one asked the obvious questions. Here is a little question for everyone to puzzle over. The public is invited to comment on the lovely pictures between June 1 and June 13. But on June 9, the staff report (plus all the other outstanding reports???) is to be tabled for consideration leading to the eventual Council discussion. So the question is -- why would anyone submit a comment between June 9 and June 13 since the comment will obviously be disregarded? In fact, why comment at all, since the conclusion of the staff report has already been written and staff are now hard at work searching their thesaurus for words of praise to apply to the so-called Lansdowne Partnership Plan. [Maybe "divinely inspired" would be too much but "approaching heaven on earth" might strike the right tone.]
If someone gave me land to build a house, chances are I could build a nicer house than if I had to pay for the land. Isn't that all the pretty pictures show?
Incidentally, from talking to architects, I gather the technical term for what was displayed yesterday is "eye candy".