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Extraordinary times for the Big Wow
09/03/08
With summer soon coming to a close there are two certainties now plainly evident.
Winter will once again come with a vengeance. And with full gale force the momentum to build the Big Wow in the Riverlands is moving with the ferocity of a speeding locomotive.
If the city’s plans to demolish the ancient and thoroughly ugly Arlington Hotel was not enough evidence to prove the sincerity of its ultimate re-development goals for the downtown, consider the mood and drive at city hall to make sure the redevelopment of the Riverlands gets done in one big hurry.
Developers are banging on City Hall doors desperate to get in. They see the potential of the dream that Jack Donald and the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce’s tourism sub-committee unveiled a year ago.
Since last June when B.C. urban planner Michael von Hausen released concept drawings of what the Riverlands could look like, the mood at city hall, and with most in the public, has been positively giddy. Even those who were staunch opponents are beginning to see the potential of Jack Donald’s vision.
This scribe’s favourite city councillor Lorna Watkinson-Zimmer, who so adamantly once hated the idea of any canals in the Riverlands is now staunchly pro-Big Wow for the district – thanks to the revised plan of not drawing any water from the Red Deer River to feed the canals.
Even Councillor Larry Pimm, who like Watkinson-Zimmer detested any notion to give top priority to Riverlands development, has softened up.
However, the process until the city council’s ultimate vote on the project, expected in early December, is still far from done.
There will be a public open house on Oct. 8 for citizens to get first-hand updates on the city’s planning process, and to review refined concept drawings. It may very well be the time naysayers of the Big Wow proposal will make their case against the project. Anything can happen, and no one at city hall right now is about to say that the Big Wow is a certainty.
But the fact is that visible opposition right now in the city is either muted or just plain non-existent.
Meanwhile, the overall support for the proposal on city council is solid.
“I am very optimistic. I think the comments I have heard since the von Hausen presentation from the mayor and every member of council has been extremely enthusiastic,” said City Manager Craig Curtis.
What can not be lost at this juncture is the role Donald and Ken Mandrusiak have played in making all this happen. They were the ones who have pounded the pavement for the past year to bring the message of Red Deer’s vision to all corners of the province.
Last week in an interview with the Express Curtis was careful to give these men and the tourism committee the credit they deserve.
Now that the River Walk Canal Feasibility Committee has finished its first phase of its work, and is about to hand over its report to the Greater Downtown Action Committee, it is imperative the city continue to rely on the energy and expertise of both Donald and Mandrusiak.
Both men are immensely successful businessmen and have a gazillion contacts in the corporate community.
If council ultimately adopts the revised Greater Downtown Action Committee plan in December, they will be needed to attract the corporate community and all its great bundles of cash to the Big Wow.
Besides, they are vowing to protect the integrity of the Big Wow dream.
“We recognize the importance to stay involved,” said Mandrusiak.
“We feel it is still important to participate so we don’t compromise the Wow. I think we have to protect the Wow somehow so that it doesn’t get watered down.
“Our original idea was that we were going to create something really special,” he added. “If we don’t stay engaged there could be a compromise to that idea.”
And that is just fine with Councillor Cindy Jefferies, the chair of both committees overseeing the planning process for the Riverlands.
“We have an opportunity to develop the river front and in a lot of cases that falls on the body of the city or municipality to deal with. In this case we have private business people who are interested in trying to see that through into something bigger than it might otherwise be,” said Jefferies.
“So yes, I do think they have a critical role to play, and they certainly see a role for themselves in trying to garner the funds to do this.”
Yes, all great ideas come from dreamers, and Donald and Mandrusiak are among the best.
They have taken their dream this far, and it would be folly not to let them carry it through as long as they feel it is necessary.
Stay tuned Red Deer. The next three months will be extraordinary.
jbachusky@reddeer.greatwest.ca 309-5456
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