By Doug Draper
If you drive down Fort Erie, Ontario’s Garrison Road past all of those box stores, strip malls, gas bars and fast food outlets buffered by acres of asphalt lots that make this ‘Canada-U.S. gateway’ so un-aesthetically pleasing to locals and visitors alike, you will now be greeted by a billboard that reads as follows; “Let’s keep development coming, so our children stay.”
This curious sign shows a young child playing on a sandy beach that seems a world away from the cornucopia of cindar-block retail bunkers that line so much of Garrison Road until it moves further west and becomes Hwy. 3. As you progress further west down that highway, the features on either side become greener as prepare, if you so choose, to make a left turn to the historic old summer town of Crystal Beach (home of the late and legendary amusement park of the same name) and a popular public beach still kissing the shores of Lake Erie called Bay Beach.
It is Bay Beach – one of the few remaining public beaches in all of Niagara, Ontario – that this billboard, sponsored by some recently glued-together body calling itself ‘Citizens of Fort Erie for a Positive Future’, is apparently speaking to, even if the photo of the child playing in the sand may not actually have been taken on Bay Beach.
Kimberly Zanko, a Fort Erie resident who sought and lost a seat on the town’s council during last October’s municipal elections, seems to be the only person who has the courage to speak up for this billboard.
Niagara At Large called her this March 11 and it seemed clear that she passionately believes that moving forward with the agreement the last council for Fort Erie made with a Toronto area developer to build a multi-storey condo building in front of that beach in a town of Crystal Beach, where most buildings in the community hardly rise above two storeys, is a good idea for the community’s future.
“This is good development,” Zanko said, adding that the argument so many opponents are making that public access to the beach would be compromised is wrong. A development like this, she argued, is in keeping with the town’s decision, a decade ago, to find some kind of a return on its investment for purchasing this piece of beach for the public in the first place.
Others may argue that the high-rise condo is not “good development” and that saying “no” to it does not mean the community is “not open for business” or is “against growth,” to quote people other than Zanko, who seems to be the only one willing to be a spokesperson for that billboard sign.
So what do you think? And regardless of what you thing, please be respectful of the thoughts of Kimberly Zanko and others.
Do you feel that opposing a development plan that may not be the best one for a community means that you are opposed to any and all development, or ahtat you are telling a developer that your community is not “open to business.” What do you think? Share your views below. ,
(Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary on matters of interest to residents in our greater Niagara region, and beyond.)
Niagara At Large 
Once development costs reach the point where the taxpayers are not footing the bill then I would say “Then and only Then” plot the course for future development. (Development costs in other Regions leave little doubt they are aware of the cost involved)
Then again We see and read about communities such as Fort Erie, Niagara Falls, Welland and many others still HAVING to dump “RAW SEWAGE” into the very rivers, streams and creeks that our children play around.
E-coli and a host of other deadly bacteria multiply in these natural run-offs and if Walkerton did not scare you, then having one of your own or yourself infected. It is deadly, a killer and not to be taken lightly
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Did you people know that the development costs for that New St Catharines P3 consortium Hospital, roughly several Million Dollars had been wavered by the “PAST” Regional Council. Talk about paving the way for privatization and at the cost to tax payers they must be laughing at the stupidity as they rush to the bank… I was going to put a chuckle here but it is NOT FUNNY, FAR FROM BEING SO!!!!!!!
Then of course one of the largest investors in this Hospital is the ONTARIO TEACHERS PENSION FUND??????
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The responsibility for this fiasco falls on the Town of Fort Erie’s shoulders. Not having established clear planning policies to ensure any development is sympathetic to the existing community lead to Molinaro to want to build this 12 story monolith. Therein lies the rub. So desperate are we in Niagara to bring any sort of development, seem to forgo the good to instead settle for the bad and the ugly.
From the Towns perspective there is a huge influx of developmental cash but that is still too low considering the burden of maintaining the infrastructure over the next 30 years. Then we have the argument that a “NO” tells the world that Fort Erie isn’t open for business. Nice try. Allowing this project to proceed as is, tells developers that Fort Erie is run by patsies who will take on all comers no matter how lame their proposal is.
I’m not against development but let’s focus on good development, not development at any price.
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I think the sign is a positive message for both sides. It points out what a great asset our beaches are and that we should keep them open and natural and not overshadowed by a giant building that would be out of place. I have never heard anyone talk about the beauty of the night sky from the beach and how the lights from a large condo would destroy this use of the public beach forever. The Town claims to be preserving the beach , but they have hauled sand away, taking the actual beach itself. We have a great opportunity to keep a beautiful beach unspoiled by shadows and wind and light effects of a building unlikely to have much impact except to deprive many local residents of the reasons they chose to live here in the first place.
What we need here is good jobs to compliment our beautiful beaches, lets not make the mistake of thinking there’s only one way for progress. Previous Council had their ideas, new council has different ideas, that’s progress.
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I think they should have used a NATIVE AMERICAN CHILD -in their attempt to associate corporate natural destruction with down -to-Earth *natural innocence*- as a reminder that small town White people have a lot to learn:
“Premise Eight: The needs of the natural world are more important than the needs of the economic system.”
“Many Indians have told me that the most basic difference between Western and indigenous ways of being is that Westerners view the world as dead, and not as filled with speaking, thinking, feeling subjects as worthy and valuable as themselves.”
“It’s no wonder we don’t defend the land where we live. We don’t live here. We live in television programs and movies and books and with celebrities and in heaven and by rules and laws and abstractions created by people far away and we live anywhere and everywhere except in our particular bodies on this particular land at this particular moment in these particular circumstances.”
“We are members of the most destructive culture ever to exist. Our assault on the natural world, on indigenous and other cultures, on women, on children, on all of us through the possibility of nuclear suicide and other means – all these are unprecedented in their magnitude and ferocity.”
“Those in power have made it so we have to pay simply to exist on the planet. We have to pay for a place to sleep, and we have to pay for food. If we don’t, people with guns come and force us to pay. That’s violent.”
“Surely by now there can be few here who still believe the purpose of government is to protect us from the destructive activities of corporations.
At last most of us must understand that the opposite is true: that the primary purpose of government is to protect those who run the economy from the outrage of injured citizens.”
“To pretend that civilization can exist without destroying its own landbase and the landbases and cultures of others is to be entirely ignorant of history, biology, thermodynamics, morality, and self-preservation.”
-Derrik Jensen
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Well, I am not a resident of Crystal Beach or even Fort erie, but the residents of this area lost all bargaining strength when you lost a historic piece of the area, “Crystal Beach Park”, owned for decades by the Hall family, this was big business and a money maker for this area. Modernization of parks within a 2 hour drive of here was forcing them to change how they operated their business. They sold out the small town atmosphere and enjoyment for monetary gain. They could have added some small upgrades within the park and locals and families that enjoyed the free entrance to the park and the company picincs from both sides of the border would have still came on a regular basis. Cost was a big factor for locals and now with the economy in the dumpster I think all of the amusement parks are feeling the pinch. Most families of 4 cannot afford $150. to $200. for a days outing plus the expense of food and area parks do not allow you to take in your own food and drink and they confiscate anything at the gates.
Now, more importantly, Crystal Beach is still a prefered summer vacation spot for Americans and Canadians alike. Will this Tower impede on access to the beach? Maybe yes maybe no. Will it stop the teens from gathering after dark on the beach, Oh Yes.
I would if I lived in the area be asking for a guarantee from the town that the developer is not buying the rights to the beach and water, in writing. No verbal aswers will hold up in court. Has anyone ever asked about this, because I have not read about this concern.
The future of this area is development. Most families have seen their children leave to seek work elsewhere. Lets try and think Optimisticly, that this could and will benefit all, if the guarantee is in place that this or any other developer cannot claim and take ownership of the beach front. In my opinion, this is the crucial question at hand. Please ask yourselves this question; “If I do nothing now about this question, what chance have we of overturning the decision in the future”. Maintaining ownership as a public beach access for all is utmost important.
Development will come whether you are in favour or not, why not put safe guards in place so to secure the use for future generations to enjoy.
Approach your council with passion, but be respectful at the same time.
If Fort Erie does not get back its emergency room and hospital, this developer might have a hard time selling his project.
Just a few unbiased thoughts.
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Just a note on Jackie’s question concerning shoreline and water access. That falls under Federal jurisdiction therefore accessible to all unless a special provision is given by an Act of Parliament. The plans for this tower are at the beaches edge within the 80 year high water mark. As one who has been following Great Lakes water levels for years this seems inappropriately close considering water levels on Lake Erie were extremely high in the mid 1980’s.
Here’s a source of good data if anybody is interested:
http://www.lre.usace.army.mil/greatlakes/hh/greatlakeswaterlevels/
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Zanko is a Chamber of Commerce employee, that says it all, The Chamber of Commerce of Canada with local Chambers support lobbied for a decade for NAFTA and wanted Mexico in on the deal, thats the place where all our factories and high paying jobs went, so if you want to blame anybody for not having a job, you know who the real culprits are,they ran 4 candidates last election 2 of them got in, Stephen Passero and Mayor Doug Martin. Our Town suffers from bi-polar disease, they have changed the Gateway street from Waldon Blvd to G arrison Road after spending nearly a million dollars to put new water and sewer lines in, they are loco in my Town or maybe something in the water?.
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[Fort Erie has its own *Sara Palin*, sounds like!]
These corporate tools have declared they are “private” -and- “non-partisan”–>
http://www.greaterforteriechamber.com/pages/board_of_directors
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