Organizer asking people to tone down the anger
The organizer of a July protest outside Niagara-on-the-Lake’s town hall, which rallied dozens of local residents against proposed developments in the community, is setting up for another.
Karen Taylor-Jones will be bringing her presence and voice to the grounds of town hall prior to council’s regular meeting tomorrow, Sept. 24, and is hoping many more will as well.
And while her goal hasn’t changed, she is hoping some of the tactics from the summer protest will change, as she and protesters seek to reverse the town’s direction on the contentious Parliament Oak Hotel development on King Street in Old Town.
She implores anyone who chooses to take part in the demonstration to “stay respectful.”
“There’s no need to be nasty,” Taylor-Jones said. “Just because you don’t like something that they’re doing doesn’t mean to say you have to be nasty.”
At the July 30 rally, a small number of the approximately 200 to 300 protesters were vocal in showing their displeasure of the proposed hotel, following councillors entering town hall and chanting “liar” and “resign” as they walked into town hall for their regular meeting from the parking lot.
In one reported incident, which Taylor-Jones attributed to two people after the demonstration, insults and racial slurs were directed at specific councillors.
“We were made to look bad because of two people,” said Taylor-Jones, adding that the move didn’t do anything to help the cause.
“Being friendly is a better way to get more of what you want.”
The planned hotel, proposed at the site of the former Parliament Oak school at 325 King St., has been hotly disputed by residents for a number of reasons.
Concerns stem from what the environmental effects will be, thanks to what many believe are ill-planned drainage and infrastructure designs, to simple aesthetics and the historical preservation of the current site.
A motion from Coun. Sandra O’Connor concerning the hotel plan is on Tuesday’s meeting agenda: it requests the project’s site plan be reported to council, allowing councillors to provide comments and input to staff on its information report before the proposal is approved.
The former Parliament Oak school was built in 1948 and closed in 2015.
The grounds themselves have history going back centuries, including being a site for an outdoor session of Canada’s first parliament in 1793 due to hot weather.
The session was held under the shade of an oak tree, which historians say is the reason the school was named Parliament Oak.
For Taylor-Jones, whose family has lived in NOTL for many years, she is siding more on the historical value of the current site, as it compares to what is proposed: a new 129-room, four-storey luxury hotel that doesn’t fit with the Old Town neighbourhood feel or look, she said.
“Well, there is a lot of issues,” she conceded, “but the big thing is I don’t want that hotel there at all.”
“Nobody seems to understand that Niagara-on-the-Lake was the first capital of Canada. In other countries, they protect their history, and all they seem to be wanting to do in Niagara is wipe it away.”
In August last year, the town’s heritage committee reviewed the developer’s memorial plans for the hotel site, which, at the time, included keeping some of the school’s heritage features and creating a commemoration wall, including the school’s sign, a stone mural of an oak tree and a concrete panel depicting the historical parliamentary meeting, among other ideas.
Some committee members who spoke on the plans during an Aug. 2 meeting said they were not fully satisfied with them.
On top of heritage concerns, the proposed building just looks terrible, Taylor-Jones added.
“It’s 63 feet in the middle of a residential section. Who does that?” she questioned.
“That’s just rude, if you ask me. All those people that live around that block, God, I feel sorry for them, their houses will be worth nothing.”
“Who wants 60 feet looking down at your house. No, privacy. Don’t have a pool. Don’t go in the backyard, because you’ll have no privacy,” she added.
The protest is set to start at 5:15 p.m. at town hall, located at 1593 Four Mile Creek Rd. in Virgil.
