THUNDER BAY – It took nearly 90 minutes, but the Current River candidates did eventually get around to answering ward-specific questions.
Not that it was their fault.
With the floor open to the 40 or so people who attended the two-hour session, the first raft of questions dealt with city-wide issues like taxes, municipal salaries, crime and safety and youth retention, posed to candidates Dick Waddington, Andy Wolff, Jamie Cressman and incumbent Andrew Foulds.
Eventually someone stood up and asked what the city council hopefuls would do to make improvements at Boulevard Lake.
Wolff, running for the third time in Current River, said it’s time to get the dam refurbished, a multi-million-dollar project that’s been put off several times, the money earmarked for it shifted to infrastructure projects elsewhere in the city.
“Obviously with the dam there are a lot of legalities involved in that as well as the engineering reports. But we have to get started on this. We’ve been waiting for so many years,” Wolff said. “We probably would have gotten it done if we didn’t spend all this money down at the waterfront, spending money on specs for a new event centre.”
But it’s much more than the dam, he added, saying a splash pad like the one installed recently at the North End Recreational Centre, site of Wednesday night’s forum, could serve a dual purpose.
“What better to scare geese away than a bunch of screaming kids and a splash pad?” he said, laughing.
Cressman said he’d like to see a lot of the infrastructure in the area spruced up.
“It’s all the same stuff that was there when I was 10 years old,” the 49-year-old entrepreneur and former Oliver Paipoonge administrator said.
“The dock’s the same. We could use a new dock and new floating devices, down to the lifeguard chairs; upgrades on the tennis courts, the basketball courts. I’d like to see beach volleyball courts there. A splash pad would be perfect and new playground equipment, perhaps a band shell. The parking lot needs to be redone,” Cressman said.
“There has to be a master plan developed. It can’t all be done at once … but let’s start doing the work.”
Foulds, who has fought for the dam repairs, only to be rebuffed time and time again by council and city administration, said the environmental process, and hence the master plan, has been jammed up in red tape.
But it’s the top ward priority, he said, adding the No. 1 concern from public consultations already held is the area’s trails.
“When’s the last time our trails have been upgraded around Boulevard Lake? When’s the last time you’ve seen a roller-blader? The trails are in rough shape. We can have all this other stuff, but we’ve also got to take care of what we’ve got and make sure we treat Boulevard Lake like we treat our cars,” Foulds said.
“I’m prepared to fight tooth and nail to make sure the recommendations from the environmental assessment are budgeted for and implemented.”
Waddington, who helped bring the trails to Boulevard Lake during a 21-year stint on city council, said it’s time to get to work on the dam and stop putting off the project.
“I would also like to see the corner of the lake, down by St. Ignatius, cleaned up. It’s an eyesore and it’s really a disgrace.”
Both Cressman and Wolff said they’d like to see the lake properly dredged.
The municipal election is on Oct. 22, with online and telephone voting beginning on Tuesday.
