By Robert Kirwan
June 27, 2017 will be officially remembered as the day that city council chose The Kingsway over the downtown as the location for the new arena / event centre. But a much more significant thing happened that evening that may be evidence we finally broke free of the shackles of a culture that has prevented this city from achieving its true potential for decades.
The City of Greater Sudbury has missed out on so many opportunities in the past because of our tendency towards an abundance of caution when faced with a decision about a new project or venture. This culture of “risk aversion” has resulted in exhaustive analysis that seemed to be intended to seek out any possible reason for abandoning suggested projects or procrastinating until it is was too late to take action.
On June 27, we witnessed signs of a paradigm shift by city council. Councillors decided to empower staff to adopt a new “risk management” approach that should help us discover ways we can invest in our future, instead of focusing on what might go wrong. We sent a strong message to staff that we are prepared to support everything they can to maximize the potential of the True North Strong Regional Sports & Entertainment District on The Kingsway.
And then on June 28, we solidified the foundation for this cultural shift by endorsing all other large projects slated for the downtown area. City council overwhelmingly approved the efforts of the people behind the Synergy Centre, the art gallery / public library and Place des Arts.
We have stated loud and clear that we are so confident our investment in the True North Strong project is going to provide us with such a significant return on that investment that we are going to be able to afford to help the downtown projects come to life as well. We took the position that we can have two distinct and separate districts in this city – one dedicated to sports and entertainment and the other dedicated to music, art, culture and entertainment. Both can be successful and it can all be done without any additional burden on taxpayers.
Now we need to allow the natural market conditions to elevate the True North Strong Regional Sports & Entertainment District as it evolves into the spectacular vision that has been presented by Dario Zulich and his team. The Corporation of the City of Greater Sudbury has formed a true partnership with Gateway Casinos and the Vrancor Group in creating the critical mass that has the potential of attracting numerous other commercial enterprises to the complex.
As a city, we must accept our role as a supporting partner leveraging the strengths of our current and future partners to help our investment grow and return millions of dollars of dividends each year in new commercial taxes and new casino revenues. The hundreds of millions of dollars of construction to come and the hundreds of new jobs generated on and by development will lead to remarkable growth in so many other sectors of our city, especially in the downtown through the establishment of the Synergy Centre, the art gallery / public library and Place des Arts.
We must now focus our attention on finding other new investments in the city that will produce similar returns in the areas of affordable housing; removing the inequity that exists among various parts of our city with respect to the quality and accessibility of the equipment in our neighbourhood playgrounds and parks; creating a more age friendly environment for our older adults and helping them receive the services they need to age in place with family and friends; utilizing surplus schools and municipal facilities to foster and develop community hubs that will address the negative social determinants of health that are impacting so many vulnerable individuals and families; and becoming the kind of city where people and businesses will feel welcome and embraced.
The City of Greater Sudbury has taken the first couple of steps in the right direction. Now we need to move forward together with confidence knowing everyone wants to achieve success. Our mission is to stop searching for reasons why projects should be rejected and instead search for ways to help them succeed.
This is the culture shift the city has needed and it is now up to all of us to make things happen.
Robert Kirwan is the municipal councillor for Ward 5.
