The Greenest Building is the One Already Standing
March 9, 2010
Send to Michael Chan, MP, Minister of Tourism and Culture: info.mcl@ontario.ca, michael.chan@ontario.ca
CC'd to Brantford's Mayor and Councillors: 'dmccreary@brantford.ca'; 'MCeschi-Smith@brantford.ca'; 'jcalnan@brantford.ca'; 'jkinneman@brantford.ca'; 'jsless@brantford.ca'; 'vbucci@brantford.ca'; 'MLittell@brantford.ca'; 'jbradford@brantford.ca'; 'gmartin@brantford.ca'; 'rcarpenter@brantford.ca'; 'mhancock@brantford.ca'
Dear Minister,
I’ll keep this brief as I know you’re already well aware of what’s happening in Brantford, but I felt I’d be remiss if I didn’t add my voice to the group of people who desperately wish to see Brantford’s downtown renovated and repurposed instead of demolished.
Brantford’s downtown is among the most historic and unique in Canada, as you know. These are buildings that tell a vital part of Canada’s story, yet Brantford’s Council has never looked at creative solutions to the issue of downtown’s revitalization, and have only favoured the demolition plan.
This is an emergency. Demolition work has already begun. The only vague plan that exists for what will replace these 41 pieces of history is a joint YMCA/Laurier community centre. There are early renderings available for this building, and they are heartless and soulless compared to what they are replacing. By cutting out the retail and historic core of downtown Brantford, the city will be cutting itself off at the knees, and will stagnate. This is a plan that hundreds of American cities have followed through on since the 50s and 60s, and the end result is always the same: stagnation. This era of urban planning is over. Brantford is dooming itself for a century with this ill-advised act.
Brantford is using Federal stimulus money to pay for the demolition of historic buildings. There is an online group and petition of thousands of people who believe this is simply wrong, and I’m sure these groups would be even larger if Brantford’s issues were more widely discussed. As it is, the protesters yesterday were constantly running across citizens who had no idea what Council was planning for the downtown.
The buildings along Colborne were described by Council and by local papers as being “decrepit”, although a city-funded report states that most are, in fact, in “good” condition.
The revitalization of these buildings would provide hundreds of jobs, and since stimulus money is already earmarked this work could begin immediately. The demolition of these buildings, however, funnels the stimulus money largely into the pockets of a single wrecking firm – AIM Environmental. One could argue that this does little to help the local economy of Brantford, which is, or should be, the mandate of all stimulus funds.
Council also argues that this work must be done now because of stimulus funding deadlines. This deadline, however, has been extended by the Federal government by a full year.
The Mayor of Brantford is quoted as saying, and I paraphrase, that the worst thing Brantford could have right now is a solid plan. This is his major argument for moving forward so quickly with demolition. I have to wonder if his electorate agrees with this assessment of Brantford’s situation, although my guess is most don’t fully understand what’s happening because, as said once by Councillor McCreary, “there has not been a free flow of information to certain councillors and, therefore, the public”.
If Council feels it is appropriate to move forward with this plan without the full understanding of the city it affects, it’s my opinion that they do not understand the gravity of what they are suggesting. Though some will argue that Brantford still has a wealth of historic structures within its borders, I argue that without the context provided by its historic downtown these structures will lose much of their meaning, and future Councils won’t hesitate to take them down, as well. There is precedent all over the Rust Belt of this, as well.
Please, Minister, let’s take a harder road on this in Brantford. The high road. It’s not the politically easy decision to make, but it’s the right one. Issue, if you still can, a stop work order on this demolition. The city of Brantford has no idea how much of its history and heart it will be losing by moving forward with this plan.
A significant part of Upper Canadian culture and history has been allowed, under municipal care, to fade over the past 40 years, and the Province of Ontario and the Federal Government need to step in immediately before a tragedy here takes place.
Thanks for your time, Minister, and your continued hard work serving the Province.
Thanks also to the members of Brantford Council for their time and hard work. Being an elected official is sometimes a thankless, and always a stressful, job, and many on council have been endlessly helpful and forthcoming in this. In no way are my suggestions and criticisms – here and elsewhere – intended to be personal attacks.
Regards,
Nick Warzin
http://www.brantnews.com/news.cfm?page=news§ion=read&articleId=7157
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/03/the-greenest-building-is-the-one-already-standing.php
A Colborne Street panorama
As I mentioned in here I've been stitching together photos of every building facade on Brantford's downtown Colborne Street. Its south side, anyway. Instead of making a traditional panorama, though, I cut and pasted each facade and then "distorted" them to make the perspective lines parallel (read more).
I haven't finished the east side of the street yet, but I've used Photoshop's handy "Export as Zoomify" feature to make an easily navigable user interface. Give it a shot:
http://nickwarzin.com/blog/custom/colborne.html
I already want to print this BIG... 10" high, by 130" long? Yes. I'm a little crazy.
Colborne Street, and the future of Brantford
March 1, 2010
Sent to Brantford's Mayor and Councillors: 'dmccreary@brantford.ca'; 'MCeschi-Smith@brantford.ca'; 'jcalnan@brantford.ca'; 'jkinneman@brantford.ca'; 'jsless@brantford.ca'; 'vbucci@brantford.ca'; 'MLittell@brantford.ca'; 'jbradford@brantford.ca'; 'gmartin@brantford.ca'; 'rcarpenter@brantford.ca'; 'mhancock@brantford.ca'
Sent to various GTA newspapers and local Brantford community groups: 'dlevac.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org'; 'McColeman.P@parl.gc.ca'; 'goodyg@parl.gc.ca'; 'jzronik@brantnews.com'; 'torsun.citydesk@sunmedia.ca'; 'city@thestar.ca'; 'Newsroom@globeandmail.com'; 'webmaster@brantford.ca'; 'info@brantford.library.on.ca'; 'information@brantmuseums.ca'; 'brantford_kinsmen@canada.com'; 'normanphilpott1@on.aibn.com'
Dear Brantford City Council, et al,
My name is Nick, and I love Brantford, Ontario. I visit it, and many cities in Southern Ontario, as often as I can. I appreciate its unique character, its deep history, its rich architecture. I visit its cafes and its restaurants, and I walk its streets. I am also, like many, saddened when I pass through its once glorious downtown. An area that contained busy shops, bustling streets and its own streetcar network has been reduced by 20th century economic trends to a shadow of what it once was. Here’s a photo of a very different time:
It has recently come to my attention that the Corporation of the City of Brantford plans on demolishing a large chunk of this history. I’m not sure when this is planned to happen, but I know that it’s soon, and I know that there are many within Brantford and without who would consider this a grave mistake. The hard lessons taught to us by other similarly afflicted municipalities seem to bear this out.
All of us in Ontario have seen Brantford’s struggles over the past few decades, and we’ve all seen the impact these struggles have had on your downtown. Underestimating how much of your history and how much of your character is trapped in those downtown structures is a common mistake among post-industrial municipalities, but I urge you not to make that same mistake with Brantford. Our understanding of how cities work is growing deeper by the day in the 21st century. To resort to brutish 1960’s ideas when we know there are better solutions available would be a travesty, and you would be doing the people of Brantford and of Ontario, present and future, a great disservice.
Please re-think this course of action. With some thought and care, your downtown could be one of the most varied and colourful in southern Ontario. This is a promise.
Engage your populace. Engage your local businesses. Engage brilliant minds across the province. Make finding a solution to Brantford’s downtown a contest – Brantford could be at the forefront of a new way of municipal thinking. Do what it takes to make this happen, but do not, do not, follow this knee-jerk course of action. You are shooting your beautiful city in the foot, and Brantford will never recover. You are making the entire province and its history poorer with your actions.
Here are some helpful resources and recent press coverage:
A definition of adaptive reuse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_reuse
Memo to Brantford: Hamilton Heritage Demolition 101
http://www.raisethehammer.org/article/1025/memo_to_brantford:_hamilton_heritage_demolition_101
Urban Destruction in the Heart of Brantford, Ontario
http://www.raisethehammer.org/article/1019/urban_destruction_in_the_heart_of_brantford_ontario
Hume: Brantford will live to regret the tragedy of edifice wrecks
Thank you very much for listening. I hope there is still time to reconsider these decisions. Please engage your populace. Please engage local businesses. Please ask the advice of those around you: planners in Hamilton, Waterloo, Kitchener and Toronto have been through this already and would be more than happy to work together with you towards a solution. Also, please click on the “adaptive reuse” link I provided, and research the concept further. There are ways of building community centres in downtowns while maintaining current structures these days. We know how to do this now. We’ve learned from our 20th century mistakes. Please let smart people have a peek at this problem and figure it out.
With all respect,
Nick Warzin.
