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What is it about the word ‘referendum’ that city council finds so terrifying? In my 71 years in Saskatoon, 45 of which I have paid property taxes, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times citizens have had a genuine opportunity to vote on a major civic project.
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The last decade or so city council has made one arbitrary decision after another, all while treating the taxpayers as their personal ATMs. Years of wrong-headed decision making have essentially killed downtown Saskatoon, turned it into a giant parking lot by speculators and developers all with the city’s blessings.
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Now a group of self-serving business types have successfully lobbied for a downtown arena and once again the ratepayer will be on the hook for it. The question never was where to put the new arena, who will run the new arena or how will we pay for the new arena? The question should have been: do we need a new arena?
We have the largest, best facility in Saskatchewan, a little long in the tooth, but the envy of every community in the province. It’s sad to see that the influence of the business community and developers have hijacked the city planning department and our council doesn’t utter a squeak in protest.
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