THUNDER BAY -- Kathy Skirving believes the Victoriaville Centre can stand for another decade or four and she's going to take her best shot at saving it.
The mall board member and owner of Crock n' Dial Sandwiches will make a deputation to city council on Mar. 20 at the same meeting where city administration will seek approval to conduct an environmental assessment that would begin its demolition process.
Skirving has submitted an 800-signature petition calling for Victoriaville to remain standing. She intends to make the case that fixing and maintaining the covered streets in the south core would benefit the broader community.
"Socially, it's almost the best it has been in a very, very long time," she said, adding Tuesday's face painting was only one of dozens of events that have pulled hundreds to the mall over the last eight months.
"These are all neighbourhood people. This is our community. They love that they're able to come and participate here because we offer it for free, because that's our community involvement."
City administration first made its case for demolition at a public meeting in July, arguing Victoriaville has imposed an $11.3-million debt burden on city taxpayers since 1980.
At that time, city realty services manager Joel DePeuter estimated the Thunder Bay would have to make an $8.6-million investment to maintain the status quo over the next decade, including $4.4 million in capital repairs.
DePeuter estimated demolishing the building would cost $9 million, the equivalent of the deficits the centre would run over the next 10.5 years.
At Monday's meeting, city staff will recommend council approve a municipal class environmental assessment "relative to the potential demolition of the Victoriaville Centre and reopening of Victoria Avenue to vehicular traffic."
Considering the socioeconomic challenges in the south core and the uncertainty over Victoriaville's future holding back potential businesses from locating there, Skirving doesn't believe the mall has had a fair chance to succeed.
"I'm hoping we can save it. We've shown in the last eight months how important this is to the community. It's like any city facility too, I guess. We'd like to generate positive revenue but with this hanging over our head, that will never happen because we can't get tenants to come in. They don't want to invest in that."
DePeuter was not available for an interview.
