Ward 5 candidate Robert Kirwan is asking Sudburians to vote for the incumbent mayor and ward councillors who have been equally resolute in their commitment to the Kingsway Entertainment District.
Kirwan said he is proud of the tenacity shown my his fellow councillors in choosing the Kingsway location.
“We did not put things off like so many other councils in the past,” he said in a release. “And we have not settled for a compromise just to keep the peace. We have remained steadfast in our resolve that the decision we made was the best decision for the future of the City of Greater Sudbury and we are not going to settle for anything less. I call that leadership.”
Full news release below:
Sudbury.com has announced that it cannot endorse any of the mayoral candidates running against incumbent Brian Bigger.
Instead, Sudbury.com is suggesting that voters vote for the candidate who “most closely aligns with their own position.” And judging from the general feedback from the community, which indicates that the majority of residents do support the KED, this position can only mean that indirectly, Sudbury.com is accepting that incumbent Mayor Brian Bigger is the logical choice to continue as mayor of the City of Greater Sudbury for the next four years.
The main reason given for not supporting candidates Dan Melanson, Patricia Mills or Cody Cacciotti is that none of those individuals have stated that moving forward with the KED will harm Greater Sudbury’s economy and harm the downtown core of the city.
The reason they won’t agree with Sudbury.com is because they know full well that going ahead with the KED means a new downtown arts and culture district that will include a new library, a new art gallery, a new performance and convention centre with a hotel, the completion of the Elgin Greenway, Place des Arts, a renovated Tom Davies Square courtyard, the Brady Green Stairs project, and a renewal of the Sudbury Theatre Centre.
The reason none of the frontrunners opposing Brian Bigger are not going to say that going ahead with the KED will cause harm to the downtown is because they, like most of the people in this city, can see that the development that is going to go forward downtown once the KED is finished will greatly benefit the downtown and the entire City of Greater Sudbury.
On June 27, 2017, city council gave full consideration to the consultant’s report from Price Waterhouse Coopers. Their report said that both the downtown and Kingsway locations were considered viable and basically equal.
The downtown had a slight advantage, but only because the consultant could not include the possibility of the casino and hotel being built because those two entities were not guaranteed. That was why the downtown location became the preferred location.
However, the consultant did say, in his report, that the Kingsway would provide the greatest long-term economic benefit to the city if the supplementary amenities such as a casino and a hotel were to be built alongside the arena/event centre. And so, this city council decided to accept the written commitments that we saw from Gateway casino and a hotel ownership group and we took what I consider to be a very safe risk. And just look at how things are turning out.
In fact, the KED has turned out to be the location that the consultant concluded would provide the greatest long term economic benefit to the city since we are building an integrated facility that will include the arena / event centre, a Gateway Casino and the largest hotel in Greater Sudbury. We made the right decision. I think it is time for Sudbury.com and the rest of the opponents to the KED to acknowledge this.
Sudbury.com has refused to accept that the development we have approved for the downtown will provide far greater economic benefit to the downtown than a new arena alone could ever provide. And on top of this, none of the arts and culture facilities mentioned above would be built anywhere near the downtown if the arena was located downtown.
Sudbury.com does make one point that I am very proud of. The editor recognizes that this city council did finally make a decision. We did not put things off like so many other councils in the past. And we have not settled for a compromise just to keep the peace. We have remained steadfast in our resolve that the decision we made was the best decision for the future of the City of Greater Sudbury and we are not going to settle for anything less. I call that leadership.
Now, all that is left is for voters in the City of Greater Sudbury to vote for the only mayoral candidate who is solidly behind both the KED and the downtown developments, and also to re-elect all of the incumbent ward councillors who have been equally resolute in their commitment to the KED.
Please vote to put back the only team that will move this city forward!
