Dear editor:

Council is in danger of making a generational mistake at the former hospital site.

The issue is not merely whether 150 parking spaces can be squeezed onto the property.

The issue is whether Niagara-on-the-Lake is now prepared to spend $9 million to $18 million on a paid parking structure without first proving that people will use it, that the debt risk is acceptable, and that this is even the right response to the problem.

Those who criticize an arts, cultural and education concept as something that might eventually cost taxpayers money should answer a simple question: what happens if the parking structure is underused?

What happens when there is still free parking elsewhere in town, usage falls short, revenue disappoints, and the debt remains? Taxpayers pay. That is what happens.

This is why the white-elephant concern is real.

There is also a larger policy failure here. Niagara-on-the-Lake keeps trying to solve the consequences of mass tourism while refusing to address the cause.

If the tourism model continues to chase raw volume, buses and high-turnover day traffic, then pressure on Old Town will intensify no matter how much parking is built.

Residents will lose more land, more peace, more character and more control.

The hospital site should not become a monument to that failure.

AnnLiz Simpson
NOTL