Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Lansdowne Live Proposal Does Not Get Passing Grade With Business Prof
Lansdowne Live Proposal Does Not Get Passing Grade With Business Prof
Choose your Community
Ottawa East
Community Business Directory
Ottawa East
Search the EMC News Website
GO
Lansdowne Live proposal does Ottawa, ON
not get passing grade with 19°c
Light rain
showers
business prof
Posted Jun 5, 2009
BY DESMOND DEVOY
DEVELOPING STORIES
» Just Say Hi Vanier
Email Print Tweet This » Eastern Ottawa Chamber of Commerce agrees to
merger
A Carleton University business professor has stated that the Lansdowne Live proposal just does not
pass muster as a viable business plan.
“It is a bad business proposal. I can spot a bad business proposal, ” said Dr. Ian Lee, of Carleton
University’s Sprott Business School. He added that, as a business loan proposition, “I would reject it.”
Dr. Lee was speaking as a panelist at the Lansdowne Park public information meeting, sponsored by
the Glebe Community Association (GCA), held at the park’s Assembly Hall, 1015 Bank Street, on the
evening of Tuesday, June 2.
“I am an unrepentant capitalist,” Dr. Lee said, but he added that the understood that there needed to be
a division between the public and private spheres, to benefit both sides. As a capitalist, he noted that
“major league football has failed not once, but twice, in this same location …The market has told us that
football will not survive at this location. ”
He added that while previous Ottawa Canadian Football League (CFL) teams have had good runs in
the past, “that was during better economic times,” when Ottawa had a more “homogenous ” population.
Dr. Lee was also incensed that the deal was not more transparent.
“Public officials must be focused like a laser beam on transparency,” Dr. Lee said, and sole sourcing a
major public infrastructure project like this was not the way to go. “If the deal is so good, why has it not
been put to public tender, so as it can at least shut up big mouths like me?”
Dr. Lee noted that, under provincial law, “sole sourcing is, essentially, prohibited, ” and that the federal
Accountability Act (2006) reins such practices in. “They should not be playing poker in the back room
with public funds.”
“It’s corporate welfare. Let’s call it what it is,” Dr. Lee said of the proposed deal between the business
consortium and the City. “They are distinguished corporate citizens. They should not be accepting
corporate welfare.”
Representatives from the City of Ottawa and the Lansdowne Live were invited to attend, but “they
declined to participate,” said moderator Anne Scotton. However, a representative from the Lansdowne
Live group was in attendance as an observer, prompting one of the evening ’s lighter moments.
“I wonder if that person could raise their hand?” said Scotton, to great laughter from the overflow crowd.
“I’m not trying to be funny,” she added. “We won’t ask you to come up on stage,” but merely so as
people could ask him or her questions afterwards.
GCA President Bob Brocklebank, however, said that the knew who the Lansdowne Live representative
was.
“Even though they are not here on stage, they are listening,” said Brocklebank. “I have some sympathy
for their predicament, quite frankly,” since the two sides are in the midst of intense negotiations, which
require a degree of discretion.
However, he underlined a key complaint amongst Glebe residents, that “there has been no public
meeting,” on the Lansdowne Live deal, adding that all the public has to go on is the City staff report to
City Council. “We hope to be able to start the conversation here tonight. ”
Glebe residents were not the only aggrieved party present on the evening.
“We see processes that are that take away public planning rights, we (architects) get a little bit
agitated,” said Robert Webster, a local architect, who is a member of the Ottawa Regional Society of
Architects. “We’re concerned with an open and public process.”
He noted that while “we haven’t taken a stand on football or not football …(But) we’d like to have a urban
design competition. ”
He expressed concerns over the way in which a major public area was being designed without input
from the public.
“If you have a flawed design process, you will have a flawed product, ” said Webster.
Webster presented a small slide show of famous world and Canadian sites that could fit comfortably
within the confines of Lansdowne Park, from Copenhagen ’s Tivoli Gardens, to the Arc de Triomphe
area in Paris, from Moscow ’s Red Square to Vancouver’s Granville Island.
“It gives you an idea of what is possible on that site, ” said Webster. “You see the density. This place
could be a whole neighbourhood.”
After the panel discussion, Ottawa residents were given a chance to weigh in on the subject.
“They think that if they turn it over to some intelligent business person, it’ll be all right,” said Cam
Robertson, Dow’s Lake Residents ’ Association. He urged fellow attendees to “get our friends in the
suburbs and rural areas to realize that this is a tremendous asset for the City of Ottawa, ” since “too
many of the suburban and rural councilors saw Lansdowne Park as a liability.”
“If you want to see these neighbourhoods killed by traffic …then Lansdowne Live is the way to kill these
neighbourhoods, ” said John Smart, whose family has lived just north of Lansdowne Park since 1971.
“It’d be better to kill Lansdowne Live.”
Westboro resident Lorne Cutler told the crowd to keep on fighting, pointing out that west end residents
were able to stop the Island Parkway off ramp project and that “things are possible. ”
Cutler stated that painting downtown, urban councilors as “leftwing, big spenders, ” works right into the
developers hands. He urged fellow Ottawans to let them know “how much this is going to cost them,”
especially in rural areas since “they dislike paying taxes more than we do.” (One commentor even went
many of the suburban and rural councilors saw Lansdowne Park as a liability.”
“If you want to see these neighbourhoods killed by traffic …then Lansdowne Live is the way to kill these
neighbourhoods, ” said John Smart, whose family has lived just north of Lansdowne Park since 1971.
“It’d be better to kill Lansdowne Live.”
Westboro resident Lorne Cutler told the crowd to keep on fighting, pointing out that west end residents
were able to stop the Island Parkway off ramp project and that “things are possible. ”
Cutler stated that painting downtown, urban councilors as “leftwing, big spenders, ” works right into the
developers hands. He urged fellow Ottawans to let them know “how much this is going to cost them,”
especially in rural areas since “they dislike paying taxes more than we do.” (One commentor even went
to so far as to joke about getting rightwing radio host Lowell Green on board their crusade…which got
a big laugh from the audience.)
LIFESTYLE » EVENTS »
The secret to making the What's Happening This
ultimate peach cake Week
BACK TO TOP
Home | News | Editorials | Sports | Business | Lifestyle | Entertainment | Events | Business Directory
Classifieds | Site Map | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Contact Us
© 2009 Ottawa East EMC. All rights reserved. Legal Disclaimer.
GO
Web development and Web design by Envision Online Media Inc.