I’m a little confused lately with the direction the mayoral candidate Patricia Mills is taking with regards to large projects in the City of Greater Sudbury.
When she originally announced her bid to run for the city’s highest seat, she was quite adamant that she really didn’t care where the arena was going to be built. Mills said she is not opposed to The Kingsway as being the location for the new proposed arena/events centre. "We need an arena, I don't care where they build it," Mills said. Well, I can tell you I care and so do many others. This project above them all has a huge impact on this city.
Surprisingly, in the last couple days though she seems to be whistling a different tune. Now, she has a barrage of questions to ask about a project that originally in her words she really didn’t seem to care much about. Now this candidate has started asking what many Sudburians including myself have been wanting to know all along this process. Questions like who is paying for this, and what will be the cost of borrowing? What is the impact of the arena going to have leaving downtown and how will it influence property taxes? There are so many more that have yet to be answered.
Ms. Mills then goes on to say “I am a big supporter of making investments that make our city better. As a city, we need to grow and we need to invest. But we need to invest wisely.” I couldn’t agree more, we do need to invest in our city and invest wisely. But again, I’m concerned where the wisdom lies when I hear, “I've done many renovations in my life and I can tell you they have never come on budget.”
Now I have to ask; if you become our next mayor, how prudent are you going to be with tax revenues or borrowed dollars when it comes to these projects? Especially, as you so eloquently put it, that things never come on budget. Is that what we should always expect? Here is where we differ. I want a mayor and council that will be good stewards of our tax dollars, and. I, like many, don’t want every project to never come on budget. I want accountability, transparency and stringent oversight of large projects the city funds.
Patricia goes on to say the casino is a provincial matter: "They're going to build it wherever they want to build," Mills said. "It's not a municipal problem. I know there's legal challenges against that. It's not really a municipal problem."
Now let’s see, there is zoning, roads, utilities, transit to mention a few things at the municipal level that have a hand on this project. Honestly, it couldn’t get any less municipal.
I don’t want a mayor that is simply going to throw her arms up in the air on provincial decisions handed down to this municipality and say it’s not our problem. I want a mayor that will either defend or champion us until the very end, and not simply give up because big brother said we have to. I want a mayor who cares where major development happens and the effect it has on our community. I want a mayor who believes that the citizens of Greater Sudbury and the future of this community is and will always be, paramount. So, should you.
Jeff Huska
Mayoral candidate