Posted Jan 17, 2012, 4:48 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Toronto
Posts: 2,229
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Looks like the Stanley Cup monument and public square at Rideau-Sussex are in jeopardy. I don't even blame the city for giving the NCC the run around and flexing a little muscle. The NCC was rather presumptuous. Although I'm in favour of the public square and hope the monument gets built by 2017, I also want to see a traffic study into how removing the Mackenzie Avenue overpass will affect traffic flow. At the end of the day the NCC shouldn't have made plans for the land and approved the monument without getting buy-in from the actual land owner, i.e. the City of Ottawa.
Quote:
‘Ottawa jinx’ plagues Stanley Cup monument
If it takes forever to build an LRT line, redevelop Lansdowne Park or do something about pollution in the Ottawa River — why should anyone be surprised by what is happening with the Stanley Cup monument?
You could even argue we should have seen this coming. Nothing is ever easy in Ottawa. If there is a way to delay a project — then consider it delayed.
And so it is, with some sadness, that I must report the plan to erect a permanent monument to the Stanley Cup in Ottawa has hit a snag. A typical Ottawa snag – jurisdictional squabbles between different levels of government.
The problems, hopefully, are not enough to kill the project, but it is now almost certainly delayed. And when it will be built is anyone’s guess (sound familiar?)
“We were originally hoping to have the monument unveiled by the end of this year,” says Paul Kitchen, a well-known hockey historian in Ottawa (he helped design the Senators new throw-back jerseys) who has been pushing for a Stanley Cup monument for several years. “Now, we don’t know when that might happen.”
Here’s a quick bit of background: Kitchen helped form a non-profit group called Lord Stanley’s Memorial Monument, whose goal was to erect a “significant” monument to the Stanley Cup. The group felt this was a long-overdue recognition of hockey’s importance to Canada and also felt Ottawa was the logical place to build such a monument.
The city of Ottawa was quick to support the idea, in principle. Then the NCC came along and absolutely fell in love with the idea.
The NCC wanted the monument built at the corner of Rideau and Sussex, where it would be an “eastern gateway” to the Parliamentary precinct. The NCC board of directors — at its annual general meeting this past June — endorsed the Rideau and Sussex location.
“We were all terribly excited,” remembers Kitchen. “The location was perfect. We had the backing of the NCC and the city of Ottawa. Things were progressing quite well.”
And then — call it the Ottawa jinx, the thing that happens in this city when things are progressing too smoothly — the project hit a snag. Several actually, although the first was the NCC, which despite it’s enthusiasm for the project, had one, little problem it had failed to tell Kitchen.
It didn’t own the land.
That’s right, the NCC board of directors had approved building a monument on land it didn’t own. A little bit of a colonial attitude there, but hey, it’s the NCC.
Anyway, the city of Ottawa owns the corner of Rideau and Sussex. And the city isn’t at all sure this is the best location for a Stanley Cup monument.
The city is worried about increased traffic at that location. How it might impact on a planned LRT station nearby. And it reportedly just hates the idea the NCC is pushing, to close off MacKenzie Avenue at Rideau Street and create a “people friendly” square.
“I gather MacKenzie Avenue is the biggest area of concern for the city,” says Kitchen. “I’m not sure myself if that needs to be done, but that is the NCC proposal at the moment.”
The city has now ordered a traffic study for the intersection. No word on when that might be completed, although Kitchen says the new plan to have the monument erected by 2017 — the 100th anniversary of the NHL, the 125th of the Stanley Cup itself and the 150th for Canada — is in jeopardy.
(Both the city and the NCC say they remain “committed” to the project, but did not comment on how it is progressing.)
“We can’t do anything until the city and the NCC figure this out,” says Kitchen. “We can’t fundraise, we can’t hold a design competition. We’re sort of stuck in the middle.”
Ahh, Ottawa jurisdictional politics — don’t you just love it? (Perhaps what this city really needs is a statue to procrastination. Something along the lines of the classic statue “the Thinker.” Ours might be called the Ditherer. Any design ideas?)
It would be a pity if this idea fails. I agree with Kitchen that a fun, tourist-friendly monument to hockey is a great idea for Ottawa. There’s more to honour in this city than dead politicians.
I also agree that Ottawa is the natural place for such a monument. Not Toronto. Not Montreal. But Ottawa, the city where the Stanley cup was born.
Let’s hope our politicians don’t spend the rest of the decade discussing the idea.
ron.corbett@sunmedia.ca
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http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/01/15/...y-cup-monument
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