Future Ottawans Will Pay For Big City Toys: BENN

Living within one’s means is a concept that has gone the way of the dodo bird down at Ottawa City Hall.

The not yet completed Adisoke central library and federal archives is but one example of not on-time, over-budget mega-projects undertaken by city hall. How did we get here? The back story matters, as it will help us understand the types of decisions that are these over budget disasters.

The city’s old central library is in the centre of Ottawa. It has been in a sad state of affairs for many years. The effects of inadequate routine site maintenance has accumulated to the point of no return. Inadequate being the operative term. Inadequate routine maintenance as in what the city has willfully allowed to happen. Inadequate routine maintenance as in what the city’s public transit service does to its aging fleet of buses. Inadequate routine maintenance as in what the city willingly inflicts on its roadways, sidewalks, pathways and sewers. Want another high profile example? The old Lansdowne Park site. Quite the pattern. Just not one to be admired. Or swept under the rug.