Within a couple of weeks, the Gathercole building will come down

by Gerry Klein
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
June 2, 2004

Crews have already cleaned up asbestos and other hazardous materials. Tenders for the demolition contract were opened this week and will go to city council Monday, when it will select a contractor.

The only thing really left to decide is what will be done with the bricks council has agreed to set aside for posterity.

This is as it should be. Most people in Saskatoon seem to agree the old technical institute is standing in the way. It has been described as the "dead hand" on the heart of Saskatoon's riverfront development project.

It's too costly to reuse and, in spite of the good work of the Gathercole Initiative Group (GIG) to try to find a way to make it pretty, it could never provide the density Saskatoon needs for the 30-acre development to be successful long-term.

It's for these reasons -- and not because Saskatoon residents weren't bright enough to figure out the complexity of the issues or because the media turned the effort to save the building into a battle with city hall (as GIG stated this week) -- that the petition drive failed.

In the 90 days the petitioners had to collect the necessary 20,530 signatures to stop demolition, they came up with only 5,226.

GIG spokeswoman Lenore Swystun's suggestion that the media fabricated a battle between the petitioners and city hall is to ignore the times they flooded City Hall, ignored the mayor's gavel, shouted down and berated councillors for "not listening" to the people of Saskatoon and held a demonstration at the Gathercole building to mock Mayor Don Atchison's short-lived dress code.

It was a battle that pitted GIG against the city and it was carried out without dignity. Given the tactics used, it ended the way it should -- in abject failure.

And there is certainly no ground to suggest Saskatoon residents don't have an understanding of how important this development is to the city. This city has invested tens of millions of dollars and three decades in the future of south downtown and southeast Riversdale.

It has been the subject of hundreds of news stories, numerous polls, endless debate and uncounted public meetings (including one tonight at 6:30 p.m. in Princess Alexandra school).

Now that it appears progress is being made, a lot of people are stepping forward with ideas of what they would like to see built as Saskatoon's signature development. Randy Fernets of Tourism Saskatoon has helped spearhead an effort to convert at least part of the development to honour Joni Mitchell -- a proposal the internationally acclaimed folk singer supports.

Dennis Johnson, chair of the Meewasin Valley Authority board, has talked with physicist George Sofko of the Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies at the University of Saskatchewan about the possibility of using lasers to paint a never-ending display of northern lights across the development. Sofko leads an international team that studies aurora borealis.

Ernie Walker, the U of S archeologist who is most responsible for the creation of the Wanuskewin Heritage Park -- a facility that gets thousands of visitors each year from all over the world -- has suggested that in design and name the development should recognize Saskatoon's rich Plains First Nations history.

There has been suggestions of a children's museum, war museum, a Canada-first museum and a science centre for the site.

The MVA has also received a lot of suggestions -- the most common of which is "let's get going," CEO Susan Lamb said Tuesday.

Contractors will be on the Gathercole site building a park along the riverbank as soon as it's dry enough this week. On Monday, council will be asked not only to issue the building's demolition contract but to give final approval on direct control district development guidelines for the area.

The land is expected to be serviced underground by summer's end.

In all this, the Gathercole petition really didn't have an impact. The city went about with business as usual, preparing to move onto the site.

By June 21, council expects to receive a report on what sort of development should take place and by the end of summer will no doubt seek proposals to build a hotel and get things rolling.

There are clouds on the horizon, however. The change in focus away from Block 146 after last fall's civic vote meant the federal government never had a chance before the election call to come up the $15 million in strategic infrastructure money that Finance Minister Ralph Goodale promised.

Now the Conservative party, which has been climbing in the polls, has indicated it would do away with the infrastructure program. Saskatoon has grounds to insist it receive its share of the old program (after all, Regina got its $15 million), but no commitment has been made.

There is also the danger a Conservative government might follow the policy of the former Canadian Alliance and cancel Western Economic Diversification Canada -- an agency that might be tapped to fund a riverfront project that could lay claim to being an international tourism destination.

A Joni Mitchell centre might qualify.

There is no indication a Conservative government would scuttle the project, but the party didn't have time to hold a policy convention before the writ was dropped, so we can't be sure what the fallout of the federal election will be.