Mark Blevis

Hundreds of people gathered for a rally yesterday at Ottawa’s Lansdowne Park.  The catalyst for the rally was an unsolicited development proposal from a group called Lansdowne Live.  I’m sure the group behind the proposal want to believe they are acting in the best interest of Lansdowne Park and that the citizens of Ottawa are unjustified in their opposition of the plans.  Common sentiment is that Lansdowne Live is acting with its bank accounts in mind, negotiating a deal that would leave a 30-year-old site in the hands of the public right when it would be ready for its first major overhaul.

The real issue is that city council had initiated an international design competition which was suddenly and unexpectedly terminated by Lansdowne Live.  A small group of city representatives are in closed-door negotiations with Lansdowne Live and have already begun approaching the federal government to explore funding options for the project — all without public consultation.  The plans seem to be something of a moving target and what the public has seen does not look good.  This includes turning a quiet residential street into the primary access route for a major box-mall shopping development and theatre complex, reduced parking for increased business and residential, and the expansion of seating in a vacant football stadium that has housed two failed CFL franchises in the last 15 years.

Jean Pigott calls Lansdowne Park the Living Room of Ottawa.  It’s been a gathering place for more than 130 years.  It’s where rural and urban came together for the first time at the Agricultural Fair, where Ottawa’s first professional baseball team played and where troops gathered before being shipped overseas.  It’s 40-acres of public land next to the UNESCO World Heritage Rideau Canal.  Lansdowne Park is such a heritage site that when city council voted many years ago to tear down the Aberdeen Pavilion (also known as the Cattle Castle) and a city manager unilaterally overruled the council’s vote, he was praised by the city as a hero for having saved the heritage and spirit of Lansdowne and millions of dollars were invested into the restoration of the pavilion.

Basically, the City of Ottawa and Lansdowne Live are endorsing a closed-door, sole-sourced development project for a major piece of prime public property.  The same municipal government requires competitions for sidewalk construction.  This makes Lansdowne Live a city issue, not just an issue for Glebe and Ottawa South residents.  As one of the speakers at yesterday’s rally said, Lansdowne Live may be one of the best or perhaps the best option for developing Lansdowne Park.  However, without an open and competitive process that embraces public input, noone will ever know.

The press was out en mass for yesterday’s rally and CJOH news ran a piece about it.  If you pick up today’s Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Sun or Metro you won’t know the rally took place.  There isn’t a single mention of the rally.  With all due respect to the Ottawa Citizen and Lanark County, I would consider this issue to be significantly more important (certainly more current) than the 50th anniversary of the Inferno in Lanark, the Citizen’s front-page story.  The rally did make front page news on 24 Hours.

Developer control of the city agenda is not really news here in Ottawa — at least, not for the last 30 years — nor is the absence of transparency or integrity in our elected officials.  However, a major issue like this escaping the papers is a bit unusual, particularly on a semi-slow news day.  Conspiracy theorist would suggest there’s developer advertising dollars at play.  I think the local newspapers have failed to live up to their responsibility.

For more information, follow Friends of Lansdowne Park.