Petition calls to halt Downtown Waterfront Master Plan spending

With the release of the City’s Downtown Waterfront Master Plan, members of the community have risen to call for an end to spending based on the high price tags featured within the Plan.

“The taxpayers of the City of North Bay, Ontario are tired of the irresponsible spending of this Council concerning the proposed spending on the King’s Landing Multi-use Pier and Breakwater as well as the proposed spending on the Downtown Waterfront Master Plan,” petition creator, Murray Cooper wrote on the page.

Cooper started the petition on Change.org over the weekend and has since garnered 210 supporters at the time this story was written. Nearly half-way to his goal of 500 supporters, Cooper plans on delivering the petition to Mayor Al McDonald to communicate the concerns of some citizens in North Bay.

“The taxpayers of the City of North Bay are concerned with the ability to pay for these projects with the population decline we are experiencing because of a lack of decent job opportunities,” Cooper wrote. “This Council should be more concerned with job creation and attraction of substantial employers.”

The petition calls for current council to not spend any funds on the proposed projects, instead delaying until at least after 2018.

“We, the undersigned, request that the Council of the City of North Bay, Ontario place a moratorium on spending and approvals on these two proposed projects until after the 2018 municipal elections when the electorate will decide the fate of this Council,” the petition declares.

Wednesday night, March 1, the City will be presenting the final draft of the Downtown Waterfront Master Plan to members of Council at 6 p.m., and will be holding an Open House will be held at 5 p.m. at City Hall before the meeting to give the public a chance to see the plan and ask any questions.

Cooper hopes a good number of supporters attend the meeting to voice their concerns.