POOT'S RESPONSE TO HIS RESPONSE:
Every building owner in the Exchange and various other places throughout the city had a heritage designation imposed upon them at one point. Why should they be excluded or treated differently?
Obviously, as a pure real estate business decision, it doesn't make one's life any easier. But how many buildings would we have lost, and would we continue to lose, if those restrictions WEREN'T imposed?
If heritage designations didn't exist, people could tear down whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. And that would have left us with much less of an urban resource from which to build.
There are, and have been, numerous city tax grants encouraging maintenance and redevelopment of buildings throughout the Exchange, often through CentreVenture. It has been their choice not to take the city up on those offers.
If their proposal was for something that benefitted the city, they would hardly be painted at villains -- instead they would be hailed as contributors to downtown revitalization. Redevelopment itself isn't my issue, its the TYPE of development.
Thanks for your response!
Michael
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The mayor's out killing kids to keep taxes down.
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