Debate over South Side demolition rages on

By Gaven Crites, Special to B-cause

The debate continued this week at council as seven more delegations weighed in on demolition of buildings on the south side of Colborne Street.

Local developer Peter Vicano spoke in support of the demolition proceeding as planned.

“The city is doing the right thing at the right time,” Vicano said. The interest and investment of Laurier and the Y.M.C.A “guarantee the success of demolition and revitalization [of downtown Brantford],” he added.

Brantford resident Matthew Larocque spoke against demolition. In a slide show presentation, Larocque requested council to “weigh the pros and cons” of the demolition.

“We need a solid plan,” he said, referencing the costs involved and other historical, heritage and aesthetic aspects he felt council has to date failed to consider.
“I just would be interested in your background,” Mayor Hancock said to Larocque at the conclusion of his presentation to council. “Is this your area of expertise?”

“I don’t have any area of expertise,” Larocque said. “I’ve lived in a number of different cities…I’ve gone to places like Windsor, Toronto, London. I see what they’ve done with their older buildings, specifically the downtown area of London and Queen Street West in Toronto. There is, I think, no reason that we can’t do that here.”

City resident David Borenstein, spoke in opposition of By-law 24-2010, which he said would essentially give the city a “blank cheque” to finance the costs of the demolition and renovation of Colborne Street without consulting with the public.

“Why at the 11th hour is this funding by-law suddenly coming forward when the city has already negotiated details, entered into agreements and committed itself to contracts?” Borenstein said in a prepared statement.

“Isn’t that the reverse of what’s supposed to happen?”

“The tax payers of Brantford should not sign a blank cheque for a project we have not been consulted on,” he stated, “when we have already found evidence of a very obvious and extremely costly detail being missed, when most of the decisions have been made outside of the public eye, when council has not been allowed to vote on many of the decisions, and when there is no publicly disclosed plan.”

Applause from the public followed his presentation.

Coun. John Bradford thanked Borenstein for his interest in the issue, but said that he was overlooking some of the key facts.

“I appreciate your passion and your right to your opinion,” Coun. Bradford said. “Unfortunately, there’s a lot of information that you have that I suspect has been generated more by individuals in the media.”

Coun. Bradford pointed to meetings between Council and the Y.M.C.A that had already taken place and were open to the public. He also referred to internet sites with public information on the project, which he said were readily available to anyone interested.

“It seems we’ve captured you at the end of the discussion,” Coun. Bradford added. “But we’re glad to have you aboard.”

Jim Chaplain, part of the London news media, and Farhi Holdings Corp’s Shmuel Farhi, made an interesting presentation and pitch to Council. Farhi specializes in renovating buildings and maintaining their historical and aesthetic appeal and presented a slide show of before-and-after pictures of renovation work he had completed in London Ontario. Though council was interested in Fahri’s potential to develop buildings in the city going forward, they said it was too late in the process for them to consider Fahri’s appeal to work on the Colborne Street buildings in question.

The demolition of buildings on the south side of Colborne Street has been a hot topic on council over the past weeks.

Like many of the delegations who spoke in opposition of the demolition, several councillors feel they have been left in the dark on the decisions being made by the South Side Task Force.