(Editor's note: This column was written in response to a story entitled MBLDC board here for the long haul: 'We have the expertise' published December 15.)
The Midland Bay Landing Development Corporation board has already made up its mind on what is best for Midland’s residents even before it has had a chance to hear from those residents.
The notion from Mr. Barber that the board will 'collectively save the town from themselves' reeks of hubris as though the people who actually live in Midland do not know what is best for their town.
Mr. Kernohan believes $229,000 is ‘peanuts’ for their expertise but if this is the annual cost to run the board then those ‘peanuts’ will have exceeded a million dollars which certainly isn’t ‘peanuts’ in my estimation.
Looking at the bios and companies of the board members reveals a wealth of expertise, unfortunately, much of this expertise is not in communities the size of Midland, but rather in large metropolitan areas such as Boston, Toronto and Calgary and none of it, with the exception of Stantec, in parkland development.
Despite this ‘expertise’, they have hired consultants at additional costs to the taxpayer.
Another puzzling action by the Board was to pursue a UNESCO Geopark designation for the site, which would appear to be a direct contradiction to its current vision of MBL.
The board obviously has its mind set on what it wants for the MBL site and merely wants to ‘educate’ the people of Midland in the two upcoming public meetings.
I think the board forgets that it is meant to represent all of the people of MIdland and not the interests of developers and out-of-towners.
We do not need a group of people who are uninterested in listening to us and who treat us like petulant children deciding the future of this valuable site.
We do not need engineers, developers and architects to impose their vision on our town when many of them do not even live here.
What we do need is a diverse group of citizen volunteers who would truly listen to the people of Midland and could develop a plan that ensures MBL represents what the majority of Midlanders would like to see for the site.
We are not naive. We are not stupid. We know this will not be easy and that there will be a great financial cost to redevelop this land.
The past election clearly demonstrated the current proposal is not favoured by the majority of Midlanders.
We do not need a MBLDC board to ‘teach’ us what we need but rather, we need a board that is willing to listen and learn from the people it is supposed to represent.
Perhaps these public meetings will prove me wrong, but the arrogance and hubris demonstrated by comments from its members leave me with little doubt that these meetings are nothing but window dressing meant to placate the masses.
It is time to rethink this board and create a committee that will work for all the people of Midland.
Andrew Walker has been a Midland resident for nearly three decades. He is a residential contractor and father of three who believes our public development should be sustainable and accessible to all.
