By Doug Draper
The mayor of St. Catharines, Ontario says he plans to table a notice of motion at the next Niagara regional council meeting – calling for pulling the plug on a $80-million-plus plan to build and operate a new police headquarters in Niagara Falls.
The current Niagara Regional Police Headquarters in St. Catharines, Ontario. Should we keep it? Photo by Doug Draper
St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan confirmed his desire to table the motion following a March 22 Niagara regional council meeting in which he once again argued that whatever reasons there may have been for moving the police headquarters from downtown St. Catharines to Niagara Falls, at a capital cost totaling more than $80 million, have died.
Those reasons included the possible location of the Canada Border Service Agency in a new Niagara Falls headquarters, which now seems unlikely as the CBSA has yet, after more than a year, to agree it wants to locate there.
So why should the Niagara Regional Police headquarters be moved from St. Catharines, where it will pull hundreds of good-paying jobs out of the centre of that community’s struggling downtown, at a cost taxpayers across the region of tens of millions of dollars to move them? And what are the citizens of Niagara going to gain in Fort Erie, Wainfleet, Grimsby, West Lincoln and Port Colborne, going to gain if the regional police headquarters is moved to Niagara Falls instead of, let’s say, the old Atlas Steels industrial site off East Main Street in Welland where it would at least be located somewhere in the centre of the region?
The James Street section of the police headquarters in downtown St. Catharines. Is it a dump that has to go? Photo by Doug Draper
Should McMullan ask those questions and combine them with a notice of motion at the nest regional council meeting, scheduled for this April 12, it will be interesting to find out how many representatives on this current council will still think it is a good idea to spend more than $80 million moving the police headquarters from St. Catharines.
The debate was always open on the reasons for moving the headquarters. For every individual, including the now former police chief Wendy Southall and former Niagara Falls Mayor Ted Salci, who agreed that the St. Catharines headquarters were old and no longer functional, there were others who disagreed with that and argued there was no reason to move.
There was less of an argument made for having a new police headquarters located in a more central location in Niagara, but maybe a few on the current council will raise the possibility of that too.
How do you feel about this issue? Should the regional headquarters for the Niagara Regional Police stay where they are? Should they go to Niagara Falls or, if they should be moved out of St. Catharines, how about a more central location in the region? Share your views below.
(Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views below but only if you also share your real first and last names with your comment.)
Niagara At Large 
If there is any place to save money, this is a place here. This is not a job creator; this is going to cost at least $80 million … at a time when the rest of us are supposed to be tightening our belts?
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Stay put and be happy until the taxpayers can afford to give NRP new digs
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Ask the employees of NRP if they want a raise or a new building? They don’t get both.
Since this expenditure does not create new positions and everyone is being asked to belt tighten it seems most reasonable that the NRP suck it up with the rest of us.
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When we have all the technology of today why does the headquarters need to be moved? The new headquarters sounds like empire building.
If another building is needed just wait until one of our schools is closed and use it.
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I am sure if were to go ahead that there would be the usual government trappings like: vaulted atrium style areas, gardens, floor to cieling window systems, granite, marble, stainless steel, smoked glass….. All of which have nothing to do with providing public services.
I wish my business could afford these trappings, however I am a tax payer and I guess in order to get these building features you have to be a tax consumer.
If you want a sense of what to expect check out the GRIMBSY NRP digs, Exotic wood, work out center (unused) with AV systems, 20ft cielings. I went in there during the day and it was a ghost town. The Niagara Region admin buildings are another example. It’s no wonder we are losing our hospital in Grimsby when these 5star overkill work environments are created.
I agree with Ray. Empire building at its’ worst.
You always hope that the politicians, who are supposed to act in our best interest, will treat our tax dollars with a little respect. I have yet to meet one that does!
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