We ought to remake Landsdowne

Re: “Ottawa, let's build the new Civic Centre elsewhere,” Aug. 24

Lansdowne is a botched job, even financially, for all those involved in the partnership. This has been so ever since Larry O'Brien and our city manager Kent Kirkpatrick suddenly cancelled the design competition. In favour of who? Yes, through a sole-sourced deal with a trio of big developers.

Even our present-day mayor had a chance to stop this catastrophe when he was campaigning for the first time for the job. But he didn't. And where does he get his campaign financing from? A substantial amount comes from the development industry. This is not illegal, in Ottawa anyways, but it doesn't look good.

Levine presents us with a completely different yet holistic vision of both the present Lansdowne pickle, and what we could have at a site such as Hurdman. Plus he's covered all the important other angles such as public transportation, environmental considerations, and the detailed differences between amateur sports and professional levels, on what happens in our city, on a day-to-day basis, in both realms.

My own sense is that there ought to be plenty of room to remake Lansdowne as the more public space it was going to be. The Y could be invited to run a lot of the activities on the city's behalf, and the city could finally have its own proper athletic facility that includes an indoor running and cycling track among other elements.

Brian Tansey, Ottawa