Quote:
Originally Posted by Drybrain
The comments made by the Housing NS rep basically amount to "everything is fine." Which is not cause for hope. But then, that's what they would have to say, even if this did come as a blow to them. I guess Imagine Bloomfield has some hope that this will instigate further movement, though it's a pretty desperate move.
The Bloomfield Facebook posting mentions concern over the state of the historic buildings on the site, which is a major concern of mine, too. (And given the similar continued inaction on the Dennis, I think we have a pretty good idea how many fucks the province gives about Halifax's historic buildings.)
I think the best shot at seeing this project move forward before the site crumbles entirely will be for the city to pull the plug on Housing NS, if such a thing is legal. But it's been three years--isn't there some kind of provision on timelines they could invoke? At the least they should start putting pressure on. This thing makes the news once or twice a year and then goes back to sleep. Housing NS either needs to lose the project, or feel consistent pressure, either from the city, community groups, or media.
It's a very different situation, of course, but I was thinking about how after the explosion in 1917, an architectural firm was hired, plans were drawn up, and construction was underway less than a year afterwards. Three years later, it was all done. And that was a whole neighbourhood. Three years after Housing NS got the tender for Bloomfield, they weren't even picking up the phone to communicate with the people at Imagine, or offer convincing explanations for the delay. It's ridiculous.
|
I agree.
My take on Imagine Bloomfield making this move is to force the issue with Council. This group was the main force and visionaries behind the entire project. Housing NS's bid is now obviously fraudulent; as per Bousquet's piece, they bid too high for it, and now can't make the development work within the specs they had agreed with.
They should NEVER have been awarded the proposal. It was a total sham, with a bid from an arm of government, with zero vision or sense of design, winning out over private developers, who had better ideas but obviously would not have the same or comparable financial backing as the stupid Provincial Government.
An excellent project that the former idiotic NDP Government made an absolute disaster of, and now the current Provincial Government, also mainly idiots, are sitting on it, God knows why.
The current Government could easily just say this was an NDP Government initiative, that we cannot afford. And seek to cancel the contract, without penalty, with the City.
In the alternative, the City should immediately announce that the House NS Government's bid is disqualified or that Housing NS has effectively repudiated the agreement.
They should then immediately re-offer the proposal to the bid that finished in second place, that would be Louis Lawen's bid.
This would the best result, leading to a faster means to get this back on track.
As for Housing NS and the City awarding them the bid -- what an utter clown show of government stupidity and incompetence. I'm steamed.