“Instead of working with the foundation, we have decided to spend an additional $80,000 refining what staff or council or our lord mayor seem to think we need to identify before we can go to a request for proposal,” writes Bob Bader.
“This site represents a rare opportunity. It is not just about land use — it is about identity, legacy and what we choose to prioritize as a community,” writes Jennifer Reimer.
“Wouldn’t it have made sense for an elected Niagara Region official to review Harry Schlange’s information to see whether it had merit?” writes Gienek Ksiazkiewicz.
“I wonder: who will come to this second location of the big beautiful new Shaw Festival Theatre, year-round, and how much damage three years of construction and loss of visitors will do to our quaint town?” writes Megan Wood.
“Imagine part of Queen Street as a pedestrian-only street, with broad sidewalks and a beautiful tree-line median,” writes Kevin Leicht.
“Except to attend Shaw performances and favourite restaurants, I seldom need to visit Old Town,” writes Kenn Moody.
“Development, growth and progress will always be part of this community’s story. The question has always been whether we do it in a way that honours what makes Niagara-on the-Lake worth protecting,” writes Nicholas Colaneri.
“Why would council put $200,000 into this when the Burton Foundation has been knocking on the door, yelling from the roof top for over four years just for the opportunity to participate in a request for proposal?” writes Heather Campagnola.
“Niagara-on-the-Lake is a growing and dynamic community, with more families choosing to call it home. Ensuring that children have access to meaningful, local education is vital to sustaining that growth,” writes Krista Hill.
“Though I am not paid by the tax-payers to confront these urgent issues, I wondered if the Fort George parking lot could be better utilized to deal with the twin big dilemmas of where tourists could park and pee,” writes Rick Monette.
“I think it’s time that city hall considers the residents who actually live here and pay taxes, to have something that would benefit them for a change,” writes Kenneth C. O’Malley.
“Let’s use the old hospital as a residence for the people who are unwanted in modern hospital care,” writes Cynthia Rand.
“To call the executive director of the Shaw Festival ‘the dude in charge’ is extremely rude, and the fact that the editor or publisher allowed this to be printed says much about the paper itself,” writes Peter Barwell.
“It seemed that the Beer Store could always negotiate their way into continuing their monopoly and thus their existence. Things have changed,” writes Jackie Bonic.
“I have no doubt that our hard-working councillors are concerned about raising revenues. But really — a parking lot at a historic gateway site, where caring and community have always been at the heart?” writes Robin Cardozo.
“Mr. Turner is right. The viability of non-profit organizations ‘hangs off the largesse of donors and governments.’ It always has. This is what makes working and volunteering in the non-profit organization sector so challenging,” writes Carolyn Bodnar-Evans.
“Niagara-on-the-Lake’s strength comes from its business community. Adding cost and complexity at the municipal level risks discouraging investment and weakening that foundation,” writes Scott Gauld.
“Where is the evidence-based-outcome driven benefit of reducing council to six from eight? How is springing a change like this on the citizens of Niagara-on-the-Lake with no opportunity for discussion or study ‘good governance’?” writes Bob Bader.
“The use of the hospital site must not be a parking project. We must have more common sense than that,” writes Cecilia Bennett.
“I’m sure that no one thinks that it should be the taxpayers’ responsibility to build a parking garage for anyone, including the Shaw theatre, especially when other more acceptable uses were being privately funded,” writes Wayne Murray.
“We talk a lot in NOTL about attracting young families to the area, and yet we have no public school, no hospital and few spaces for families to gather, outside the community centre,” writes Brendan McLeod.
“You can’t have a happy, healthy, diverse town without realizing it is a town first, not a money-maker,” writes Elaine McCaughey.
“We are now witnessing a military conflict whose length and final outcome cannot be determined at the present time,” writes Derek Collins.
“If we begin demanding that individuals resign from public life based solely on the title of books they have read or purchased, we are venturing down a very slippery slope,” writes Rob Brenmer.
“Let’s stay focused on amalgamation of one kind or another folks, and maybe go to the public (not private) library and read some intriguing books once in a while,” writes Peter Rusin.
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