GuelphToday received the following Letter to the Editor from Annette Graydon in response to Mayor, MP and MPP pen letter saying they don't support urban park 'at this time'
Well, well, well. Imagine my surprise when I read in GuelphToday that our municipal, provincial and federal 'leaders' can't (won't) support all or some of the old reformatory property being potentially turned into a national urban park.
Of course we don't want this! I mean, why on earth would we encourage ANY kind of positive public use of this unique green space when really you should just wait for a better offer to come along? That way things can reach the exact right amount of neglect and decay. Yes, that is a much better plan.
Poor Mr. Longfield must still be removing the splinters after his fence sliding. From 'Guelph would be an ideal community to host a national urban park' to 'the hospital needs 60 acres and there is not a lot of sites around Guelph' is a pretty impressive back-slide. Is Mr. Longfield suggesting that a new hospital would be the ideal use of this verdant acreage?
While Mayor Guthrie's waffling is not surprising, our Green MPP's position is. Mr. Schreiner suggests that 'other public needs' might serve our city better.
OK, then let's put some really great public housing there, in addition to preserving the appropriate park space. There is plenty of room for both.
But I doubt that this idea will ever fly. Nope, I think a big money developer is somewhere in the shadows waving money at our brave leaders and we 'the public' will never have a say.
Shame on all of you for continuing to drag your feet and do absolutely nothing with this gem of a property.
Annette Graydon
