We can do better than a ‘fire sale’

Thank you to John Manley and John Baird for an excellent statement on the planning needed for this space.

LeBreton Flats is the last large, undeveloped space in the core of our capital and we deserve far better than what amounts to a “fire sale” to develop it. The botched last phase was excruciating, but the current NCC intention to develop the space piecemeal is unconscionable.

I recently brought British friends to the Canadian Museum of History, as I consider it extraordinary in both concept and collections.

We all marvelled at the exquisite architecture and landscaping that echo and complement the beautiful shores of the Ottawa River (unlike a recently approved extension to another local landmark).

This extraordinary building and site should be the standard of excellence sought for LeBreton Flats — not a piecemeal sell-off with more substandard design, like that of some nearby buildings.

Please, please rethink the current plan and appeal to the best minds to create a complex worthy of this space and our communities.

Linda Murphy, Ottawa