Dear Editor:
At a time when most zoos are considering divesting themselves of elephants, the keepers at the New Westminster Zoo of a city council are now moving to create a new white one.
Let's review that oft-quoted comparison of government projects to the mating of elephants as we see what's new at the zoo.
- It is done at a very high level.
No question about it, taxpayers, this took a lot of work involving not only your city councillors, but also the folks over in Victoria to cave to some pressure to reallocate $8 million of development assistance compensation funding to bail out the civic centre's "Begbie Dig."
Remember when (development service's director) Ms. Lisa Spitale stated that the use of such funds on the project was "cast in stone."
Speaking of bailing, didn't the favoured developer of the office tower bail on the project for "business" reasons? Does the city really think it has a better handle on the "business" of office development?
- It is done with a lot of stomping and trumpeting.
The collateral damage of the "stomping" not only relates to the Queensborough pedestrian crossing (misplaced where relocated, as it was, and costing twice as much as the $10 million, as allocated) but also stomped on will be the city's ability to borrow.
Additional stomping will flatten taxpayer wallets once the financing costs and repayments are made.
But the trumpeting at the zoo has already begun. "See no evil'" Harper is grinning as he grabs the cage at the "sink hole" for the $12.5 million for three levels of parking.
"Hear no evil" Wright pre-empts unnamed "naysayers" by substituting his business acumen for that of the stampeded developer and betting $40 million from taxpayer's coffers; by substituting his faith for risks seen by Chuck Puchmayr; and by substituting his "vision" for the yettoberead fine print.
All this noise before the rest of the "speak no evil" councillors put it to the taxpayers in an May 14 vote.
- It takes 23 months to get results.
The laudable $41.5 million for the multiuse civic centre, not to be confused with the stuff at the bottom of the "Begbie Dig," has turned into a $94-million financial quagmire.
The gestation period for elephants is usually 23 months, so I guess we taxpayers will have to wait to see if what emerges is a white elephant, or not.
Either way, the care and feeding of this newborn pachyderm will be on taxpayers' backs - likely long after the current council has taken the "dirt nap."
E.C. "Ted" Eddy, New Westminster
