On March 6 1951 the Fort William
Gardens was officially opened, having been built at a cost of $658,900 by the
Claydon Company of Fort William, the lowest tender received. Of this sum,
$107,000 had been raised by a public fund raising campaign by the Junior
Chamber of Commerce. In a speech ten years later, former Fort William Mayor
Hubert Badanai (Fort William mayor when FWG opened, then MP), reflected that,
“The Fort William Gardens is a chapter of civic endeavour, the success of which
was due not to any individual, but the co-operative efforts of many whose sole
purpose was to provide recreational facilities second to none for the people,
coupled with an unshakeable belief in the growth and development of our city”.
To date the city taxpayers have been denied a real
voice on the proposed “Event Center”, which is being steadfastly pushed by the
Mayor and the supporting councillors. Why? Mayor Hobbs and City Manager Tim
Commisso earlier stated, “it was pre-mature” for a plebiscite to be included in
the recent civic election, well then, when will that time be proper? After
it gets built?
There is a record of plebiscite's being
held for these facilities locally. In 1919 a plebiscite was held for the Prince
of Wales rink, for the building of a replacement rink to replace the previous public
rink, which burnt down in April 1912. On Dec 6 1944, a proposal for a new community
Center (which would become FWG) was shot down by the voters in a plebiscite. As
the pursuit of a new building continued, to replace the Price of Wales, which
was turned over to the Canadian military in 1943 for use as an armoury for the
war effort, another plebiscite was held in 1947 for the location, selecting the
present location. During the process to replace the Port Arthur Arena in the
early sixties, there were two plebiscites held. So it must be asked why this gang of eight
councillors, who have unwaveringly voted every step to proceed, are steadfastly
pushing this without any confirmed public support for it? Why have they refused
a vote to the public? It certainly raises several alarming questions doesn't
it! There are several serious concerns presented by citizens on the proposal,
whom Hobbs shamelessly disregards as “Naysayers”, and councillor Ruberto echoes!
We see local business groups, Waterfront BIA, Ambassadors Northwest strongly
supporting it, with Ambassadors Northwest (in a letter to council) stating they
were against plebiscite, why? Is it out of self interest? Only they know and one
certainly wonders!
Compare this, to what undoubtedly has
to be the best recreation facility development in this city, Chapples Park. The
idea was conceived by FW councillor Clement Chapple, founder of Chapples, some
twenty years before FW Stadium & Delany arena opened. The land was donated
by Chapple, with the golf course opening in 1949. In 1959 FW Stadium followed, opening
for the football season, with the grand opening of it and the baseball stadium
(@ the SW corner of the football field)held in 1960. Mr. Chapple had put
forward a sum of $25,000 toward this project, on top of the land he had
previously donated. Mr. Chapple unfortunately did not live to see the project
come to fruition. When you hear Chapples Park, think of a councillor from the
business community, whom genuinely cared for, and gave generously for the
benefit of his community. This is of course appears to be quite contrary to
what we see in this project!!!
