Ottawa bribes Claridge over portrait gallery
Why isn’t Diane Holmes mayor? She should be. She had the good sense to call bullshit on Ottawa City Council’s increasingly desperate effort to keep the National Portrait Gallery in Ottawa.
Claridge Homes gets to build two skyscrapers twice as high as normal zoning permits in exchange for agreeing to bid on building a new portrait gallery.
And if they lose, say, because they submit their proposal in crayon or propose to build it out of Dixie Cups, they still get to build their too tall towers.
How much sense does that make?
This whole business is about the Tories wanting to reward their supporters with contracts and projects and Alberta’s deep pockets.
We aren’t going to win, but we will get the towers, as she points out. This is nuts.
Wait — like any good blogger I’m having a brain wave…
On the other hand, maybe this model could be extrapolated to other parts of city politics.
I personally would be willing to put a bid in to host the 2044 Olympics if City council would be willing to waive my property taxes for a year, for example.
Am I on to something or what?
