Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Modest Proposals

I spend my Monday evenings at the curling rink instead of at town hall, but I send a reporter, and some of the stuff she hears there is very interesting indeed.

I looked back over the stories in the last year about casinos and to catch you up, here's the briefest of thumbnail sketches of what has happened so far:

-Province offers consideration for gaming in our neighbourhood.
-Clearview says no
-Springwater says no
-Collingwood says no
-Wasaga leaps at the chance.
-Collingwood councillors defer saying whether they approve of casinos for the neighbourhood in general.
-Presentation last night will lead to a vote on approval in principle for a casino within a resort.

*sound of screeching tires*

Was this presentation actually an announcement of a massive new resort development in Collingwood?

If so, I hope it goes better than the massive resort development announced for the waterfront in Wasaga Beach a few years ago. You haven't stayed at that hotel yet? Me, neither.

Cast your mind back to the 'vision' presented to Wasaga in 2007. It was going to be massive. A resort, with an indoor ski hill and hotel rooms and a conference centre with views of the lake. It was going to cost $50 million to build and reveal Wasaga as the jewel it really is! The court cases involving the bankruptcy and fire continue.

If I heard correctly last night from Collingwood, an 'integrated resort' would be massive, too. This one would cost $200 million to build, have a thousand employees, each of whom would be paid more than $40,000 a year. All it needs is 30 acres and support from the town. Is there a 30-acre parcel of land within town limits that could hold such a thing? If so, where?

Here's my modest proposal: put it on top of the terminal building!

8 comments:

  1. That's a good idea. Then, when someone looses their life savings at the casino, they'll have further to fall when they jump.

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  2. C'mon Mariane and Steve. Less of the "Nanny State" politics. Stop trying to protect everyone from themselves. Casino - Bring it on!!!

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  3. Never said I was against a Casino Colin. I just want all of the information, and a proper, transparent process.

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  4. Good luck with that!!!

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  5. Hey! What Lake. I always thought that was the Bay?

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  6. Who wrote this? The Mayor?
    http://www.collingwood.ca/breakingnews

    There will always be a business proposal of some kind at the table. That is not the point. . .

    It's what Town Council does with what is "dropped in their laps", how they handle it, and what they do to ensure the vast majority of people are represented (not just their personal/secret club of cronies and relatives).

    Elected officials shouldn't post-pones their PUBLIC PROCESS until AFTER the decisions are made.

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    Replies
    1. Definitely. By the way, whatever happened with the Council's 'strategic plan'?

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