Economy Thread

[ldoto]

The stimulus cash: Council must look forward, not back

Posted By Philip McLeod



If, as expected, the City of London is eligible for $120 million of stimulus grants from the federal and provincial governments, how should that money be spent? That’s the question city council is grappling with at the moment, so far without much focus.

A recent list of possible projects prepared by City Hall staff lists no fewer than 40 projects which range in size, cost and complexity from the Springbank Gardens community room expansion for $300,000 to the southwest industrial servicing strategy for $202 million plus.

As we noted last week, council’s deliberations are complicated by the fact there’s no real strategic plan for London’s future. And unhappily, given the apparent tight timeframes senior governments are attaching to the spending of the stimulus largess, there’s little time right now to put together an intelligent, cohesive strategy that articulates how and where London should grow over the next decade or so.

This is not to suggest, however, there aren’t a lot of ideas out there. So many, in fact, council seems frozen at the cashbox.

For what it’s worth, our view is London should use this infusion of extra money to secure its future, not repair its past. Potholes and pipelines need to be fixed, certainly, but funds to do that should come from today’s municipal budget.

We should use the new money to wisely put in place the infrastructure that will create and sustain meaningful jobs tomorrow, if for no other reason than to ensure the citizens who must pay back what senior governments are borrowing to provide these stimulus funds are able to do so.

A roundtable chaired by London West MPP Chris Bentley recently suggested London use the money to begin developing the 401 / 402 corridor from the airport to the new Southside sewage treatment plant.

That’s one good idea that looks to the future. There may be others. The point being council needs to look ahead, not behind.