It’s been more than a year since the first rumblings of a deal to sell the Ottawa Public Library building began. Nothing seems to have happened and patrons still have to worry about the ceiling falling in.
Rumours of a new owner brought to life visions of badly needed renovations and upgrades to the rundown building. But those visions are still bogged down under a mountain of red tape and unnecessary political complications as the players in this bungled mess drag their respective heels.
The library board, the City of Ottawa and Cadillac Fairview Corp., have been in half-hearted negotiations since the Toronto real-estate mogul first approached the city to buy the building. All sides now say they have no real incentive to rush the deal through. The city isn’t in a hurry to sell, Cadillac Fairview isn’t in a hurry to buy and the board doesn’t seem to care one way or the other.
Mayor Jim Watson says the city is concerned about having to rent the space from the private company because it would no longer be in the position to make renovations and upgrades to the building. Watson fails to mention that the much-needed renovations didn’t happen even while the library has been under the city’s care.
A lack of cash has been city officials’ main excuse for the shoddy conditions library patrons are now forced to tolerate. The library to this point has had an insatiable thirst for taxpayers dollars and has given little return, officials argue.
If the process is expedited and a private company moves into the building, the new owners will have more motivation — and cash — than the city has and will hopefully make the changes the library so desperately deserves.
The constant delays are inexcusable. Library patrons are being held hostage by this display of political posturing. Perhaps patrons would be convinced a good deal was in the works if the main reason for the delay was that the real estate giant was offering a pitance for the library. It may just be the city has a bad case of performance anxiety and doesn’t want to fail to get enough funding for the building. No one will tolerate another example of the National Capital Commission’s Sparks Street spending spree last month which was a prime example of an asinine real-estate deal brokered by bureaucrats and politicians that cost taxpayer’s far too much money.
The city has to realize it has a severe case of budgetary dysfunction and cannot save the library. The longer it waits, the more fatal the library’s symptoms will become.
The only way to put the library out of its misery is to finally sell the building and allow a private company to come in and resuscitate the facility.
—Rachelle Diprose and Daniel McHardie