Readers raise concern about replacing the Lawson Aquatic Centre and the mayoralty debate that seemed to only take questions from b business groups.
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I’m concerned with mayoral candidate Lori Bresciani’s proposal to reconsider the Indoor Aquatic Facility and instead renovate the Lawson Aquatic Centre and build another pool somewhere else in Regina.
City administration has previously identified that the cost to build a new identical replacement for the Lawson Aquatic Centre, with a 50-year lifespan, is just 25 per cent less than renovations that will add 25 years of life. That cost difference was $80 million versus $60 million at the time.
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Building a new pool elsewhere will still result in new construction costs; require infrastructure which already exists at the Lawson; increase staffing costs to support two buildings; and increase heating costs as only one of the pools will have the positive geothermal heating system.
An existing plan that meets the needs of Regina’s citizens as identified in the recreation master plan has been supported by four city councils since 2009, and will provide much needed pool capacity and amenities for Regina for several decades. Let’s keep it going.
Rob Nelson, Regina
Civic voters need their say, too
According to the Leader-Post article on the Access Communication mayoral debate, the candidates answered questions provided by business organizations and the Regina and District Chamber of Commerce. That apparently no questions were allowed from anyone else is both telling and troubling.
Regina’s business community is ably represented by many organizations and aggressively lobbies provincial and municipal officials, consistently arguing that the business contribution to public coffers is too high.
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Meanwhile, a recent survey of a major cities by Altus Group produced these ratios of commercial-to-residential taxes paid on a standard property: Regina 1.5, Saskatoon 1.61, Edmonton 2.55, Calgary 3.36, Winnipeg 1.93 and (the highest) Montreal 4.5.
It appears the local business community can boast of a job well done. But local residents now have a say — at the polls soon, and at the cash register always. I support a fairer balance between what I do for local businesses and what they do for me.
Gord Brock, Regina
Lest We Forget
My dad and namesake, a First World War veteran of Canada’s 4th battalion, once took me to visit Pip and Bert — two army buddies. There was much camaradery between them, having survived France’s brutal trench warfare.
They talked about the battle of Vimy Ridge, the artillery fire from advancing on German lines and relentless machine gun fire that took the lives of so many. They told me when there was a lull in fighting, they could hear Germans tunnelling beneath them.
Like so many Canadian veterans who we praise for their courage and bravery defending our democracy, they’ve passed. .Honour them on Remembrance Day by wearing a red poppy symbolizing remembrance and the hope for peace. Lest We Forget.
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Peter J Middlemore Sr., Windsor, Ont.
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