The blues, a debacle, rocket man and more
It’s the holiday season, we must have lists.
I used to call this a compilation of the top 10 local news items of the year.
But my selections are occasionally wacky and my omissions are often glaring, so let’s just say these are the top news thingies, in no particular order of thingieness, which attracted my attention in 2017.
1. Burgoyne Bridge completed (I think). It’s Niagara Region’s most expensive project to date and it looks great, a true signature structure welcoming people to downtown St. Catharines. But so far its completion has gone unrecognized by its government overseers, thanks to the project’s $93-millon cost, well above the original goofy estimate of $59 million. Pity.
2. Bayshore blues. Nobody said it was going to be easy redeveloping the old General Motors lands on Ontario Street in St. Catharines. But one might have expected a glimmer of hope by now, three years after their purchase. Nope.
And a series of recent stories by The Standard’s Karena Walter that revealed the Bayshore Group owners face a number of lawsuits and construction liens related to property has cast further doubt on anything happening soon.
3. St. Patrick’s Day debacle. An estimated 3,500 young adults took over Jacobson Avenue near the Pen Centre on the afternoon of Friday, March 17, a boisterous, booze-soaked street party that caused havoc for neighbourhood residents and shopping mall visitors. Politicians, police and residents have vowed an end to this sort of anarchy.
We’ll see. St. Paddy’s Day falls on a Saturday next year.
4. Grandson of Port Tower. The official public meeting revealing plans for the latest condo project in Port Dalhousie was held earlier this month. It’s a big building, occupying a lot of space in the commercial core. I was tempted to say the real story won’t come until early next year when city council decides whether to approve it or not. But who am I kidding. This is a never-ending saga.
5. Summer Games. Niagara was selected in late March to host this national athletic competition in
2021. A great get for the region. It followed a successful hosting of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts curling competition.
And shortly thereafter it was announced St. Catharines would host a top international junior basketball tournament next summer. Good stuff all around.
6. Rocket man. No, not North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. We’re talking the real deal here, Elton John. In a pinch-me moment for the thousands of people in attendance, one of pop music’s true legends appeared at Meridian Centre in November. He’s still standing, indeed.
7. Glen Ridge School. Lots of schools close in Niagara, often to the chagrin of neighbourhood residents. In this instance, though, the community came up with a workable plan to save the St. Catharines school building and some of the parkland while allowing appropriate residential development to occur on most of the property.
This could serve as a template for similar situations in the future.
8. High lake levels. Lakeside Park in Port Dalhousie and other shore lands along Lake Ontario were mostly under water this spring and summer. A real bummer for a community that could have used a break or two.
9. Double-duty downer. When Mayor Walter Sendzik and the Siscoe Five launched this process in early 2015, the concept of having St. Catharines city councillors also serve as the municipality’s representatives on Niagara Region council seemed a certainty.
But when the final vote to affirm the new governance model came to city council in early February, odd duck Merritton rep David Haywood changed his long-held position. Simple as that, the motion lost.
Sendzik, presuming he’s back for a second term, knows how to count, so the results of the 2018 municipal election will determine if another attempt is made.
10. Keystone Kops. A tape recorder is found running at a closed Niagara Region council meeting, and officials impose unofficial martial law. The offending recorder is seized illegally and so is a non-offending laptop and notepad from a reporter, who is also banned from returning to cover the meeting. In doing so, the Region showed an arrogance and misplaced righteousness that rivals similar conduct from Regional Council Junior, the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority.
The leading members of both these bodies claim such criticism is overblown and unfair. We’ll see if next year’s municipal election proves them right. dherod.niagara@gmail.com