Be less imperial and more metric

Re: Community’s battle for Lansdowne Park lingers as dozens tell council members to kill OSEG takeover, Nov. 5.

“These are like the same people that are probably fighting the metric system,” Mayor Jim Watson said. That’s how our mayor dismissed public input into the future of Lansdowne Park at a city hall meeting on Tuesday.

I’m a Glebe resident and I like the metric system. I also like Lansdowne Park and am grateful for the public input some seven years ago which actually improved the design by adding true green space, keeping the beautiful Horticulture Building, and putting parking underground.

Lansdowne has always also been a public park for all citizens. It was donated by farming families about 150 years ago for public use. The Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group has done some things very well, but as a sports and entertainment organization it may not have the long-term vision or public interest that Lansdowne public buildings and spaces deserve.

One useful suggestion that came out of this week’s meeting was for an advisory board made up of a diverse range of community stakeholders, including OSEG, that would be given the role of oversight and a mandate to make Lansdowne the truly great public park it could be.

OSEG has cited the example of Bridge Park in Brooklyn. It’s a great example. But it should be noted that it is run by a non-profit corporation set up for that purpose and accountable to its municipality. This is how democracy works — a bit more metric than imperial.

Sheila Petzold, Ottawa