Balsillie behind city’s bid for Biennale
Jan 24th, 2010 | By Debbie Vitez | Section: 2010 Municipal Candidates, City IssuesThis article ran in the KW Record OCTOBER 2008… Your comments invited below
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CAMBRIDGE
RIM co-founder Jim Balsillie is behind efforts to bring the world’s premier architectural event to the banks of the Grand River in Cambridge.
Mayor Doug Craig intentionally dropped Balsillie’s name during his state of the city address last night.
It’s the first time the co-chief executive of the BlackBerry maker has been publicly tied to the city’s $80,000 study looking at bringing a North American expansion of the Biennale here, Craig said.
“It’s to show the credibility behind this,” Craig said after his speech.
The every-other-year Biennale would come to Cambridge and Waterloo Region in years it’s not staged in Venice.
The study underway is looking at the cost and economic impact of hosting 100,000 to 200,000 visitors to the event anchored in Cambridge but with displays across the region.
A Biennale recommendation should be ready for council to consider by spring, Craig said.
The University of Waterloo school of architecture in Cambridge — which is also behind the Biennale plan — has a campus in Rome.
Balsillie’s name is key to making inroads in the Italian government, Craig said.
Craig said the Biennale is a key part of expanding Cambridge’s arts and cultural foundations to help the city diversify and prosper, despite global economic turmoil.
The city is at a “turning point” in its history, and he asked permission to mention Balsillie’s name, Craig said.
“When you go into an Italian minister’s office and put down your BlackBerry, it makes an impression.”
Balsillie has a history of philanthropy, including spending $100 million in recent years to create think-tanks for global issues and Canadian foreign policy, and the Balsillie school of international affairs.
Craig said he recently returned from Venice, where he viewed Canada’s architectural exhibit at this year’s Biennale. The Cambridge Galleries, part of the city’s library system, are co-curator of the display.
Craig’s 35-minute presentation at New City Hall focused on the financial and economic strength of Cambridge, which is debt-free.
He proposed a two-day “Cambridge Summit” next September, giving experts, local leaders and citizens a chance to brainstorm ways to a prosperous, creative future.
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This is Craig’s next item up for bids if he gets re-elected.. Since that time, our hospital has gone to Hell in a hand basket…We still have unacceptable levels of TCE in our drinking water..
No clue where the Brownfield’s are in our City. But your gonna have a Venice Biennale…and a Drayton Theatre.. These are {your} Mayor’s priorities.. Did I mention we’re not debt free any longer…
Here’s a suggestion.. instead of impressing an Italian Minister with your blackberry.. How about impressing us with clean water.. Tell us where the Brownfield’s are so we can educate the residents of this City accordingly…so they can protect themselves . Let’s get our priorities straight.. Lets try to save some lives or at least slow down the cancers in this city?
( he is looking at hosting 100,000 to 200,000 guests….Now that’s ego)
Did he say we were debt free??? I’m confused, I thought we had a money problem. Apparently, we have enough for a ’summit’, and, a trip to Venice!? WHO PAID FOR THIS TRIP???
Here’s a brainstorm idea Mr.(soon to be X Mayor) Craig….. HOW ABOUT SOME CLEAN WATER!!!?????
Maybe fix a road or 2?
Bob we were debt free in 2008, what a difference a year makes.. Hang onto your hat, pants and shoes.. our debt load is only going to get worse, without the clean water and road repairs, and decent Medical Care at your local Hospital..
Good Question!!.. Who paid for his trip to Venice?.. I will have to ask some questions .. Maybe someone out there knows the answer????
Government is people!
Unlike Soylent Green, we already know this, yet the inevitable reaction to humanness in government is horror and outrage. There is an obscene expectation that those who are elected suddenly become infallible, more knowledgeable and more intelligent… in their agreement with our own assumptions.
With each passing month, this current city council is becoming the devil they claimed to exorcise from city hall. But did that evil actually exist except in the minds of cynics and pessimists? Similar to Mr Craigs description of misguided protesters, perhaps those who protested the alleged arrogance and secret agendas of city councillors were themselves unwilling to consider alternate perspectives?
The allegations of corruption and coersion are a result, not of misdeeds within city hall, but of the human condition that leads people to assume that their perspective is more correct than anyone else’s. In attempt to explain why someone with responsibilty would make a decision different than we assume we would make, we make up stories. Newly elected officials who vowed to be different soon find themselves, after carefully considering the information available to them, acting very similar to their predecessors.
Deb, if Craig attended on ‘city business’, then no doubt taxpayers paid for the trip. The best way to find out is to call CIty Hall and ask the mayor or CAO ‘who paid’. Surely one or the other will answer a simple question such as that.
Over the years, no one has been more vocal than I about the need to ‘upgrade’ our city’s amenities, whether it be through Drayton, Venice Biennale or other avenues. However, doing so with taxpayers money and BEFORE we’ve taken care of our current infrastructure issues, is simply, well,…..a little loco.
As to who paid for Craig’s junket to Venice, I would wager dollars to donuts, dear fellow taxpayers, that it was us!
Furthermore, it would be interesting to know who accompanied him. Surely they wouldn’t turn him loose on his own. Perhaps the missus and a few other hired hacks. All care of his lowly subjects; us!
Did they fly 1st class or sardine class?
I seem to recall not too long ago when he and six other ‘representatives’ from the area attended a municipal councillor’s gathering at a luxury resort in Vancouver. We never did get an explanation as to why they managed to rack up over $4,000 each in expenses; twice as much as councillors from other regions, over the weekend.
I mention his trip to Venice because I don’t think he has the right to put “ART” above the Health of the residents of this city
Going to Venice to spend more money on something that doesn’t put clean water in our homes, is my issue..
IF…He had paid serious attention to the real issues.. Along with the arts that would have been a fair and reasonable thing to do..
When we were in the middle of our nightmare in Preston, my neighbours formed a group.. City Hall shut them down!!!..
Then this Mayor offered us $10,000.00 for a Mediator to help those of us, who needed someone on our side….(Because we had no one speaking for us or representing us, the victims of this horrible contamination..)
Nothing came of our mediator; actually the mediator was a friend of Doug Craig’s, or someone he highly recommended.. And nothing.. We had no support system, and no money to hire anyone…
Craig added insult to insult by approving $365,000.00 for pictures for his New City Hall..!! I take issue with that.. (he put a price tag on human lives in my opinion)
So you see, my fight with Craig is personal.. I know first hand that we meant nothing to him..
We were just a thorn in his side..
He knows how many seriously ill people are over there, and he did/ does nothing..
He has an appraisal in his possession clearly showing that the properties over there should have lower assessments..
Yet taxes were raised and Doug Craig hid behind MPAC !! he never produced his appraisal..
They even went so far as to hire an out of town appraiser and fed him false information hoping to guarantee results that would look good on paper.
Their appraiser was quoted, in the news saying nothing wrong with the area.. This appraiser then met with the neighbours and quickly back tracked and sent Craig a 99 page report clearly stating what the values truly were of these homes.. (I have that report)
His new findings never seen the light of day or printed in any newspaper..
We have this deadly chemical (TCE) in our drinking water or at least 40% of us do.. I want clean water in Cambridge.. I want someone on this council to take our lives seriously and do something instead of just hanging pretty pictures at city hall..
Going to Venice to spend more money on something artsy.. When they voted to put the water purification system on hold.. Is my issue..
Deb……you go girl!!!
Deb… your view on the Mayor’s junket to Venice is bang on! You make strong statements…but you back them up with facts, and not just as you see those facts. It’s not fair to expect miracles from our politicians… but the public has a right to be treated fairly and our politicians must set reasonable priorities.
…Art before water ???
Our mayor has only one vision and thats the vision of what he wants and not what the taxpayers want.The stratford festival was hurting last year but the city thinks they can draw upwards of 4 million a year to the drayton festival in cambridge. I wish them good luck. Our money is spent on the choices of the city council and mayor, and not to where it is needed. The city of Brantford and Kitchener, and Waterloo have spent alot of money on upgrading their recreation facilities, while we have spent nothing in recent years to upgrade our aging arenas. Any change in the next election will be better than the one we have with people running our city that have no vision on the future of what cambridge can be if it’s run right.
Debbie you certainly did your homework.. I wonder if my husbands disability had anything to do with the TCE in the water. He was diagnosed with Devic disease in 2008 at Hamilton General. I was asked many questions, one of them was pesticides..was he in contact with chemicals. Well he worked for a grocery store in Preston for 38 years! Our Mayor goes to Italy and we are trying to get by……….making our home wheelchair accessible and living on a disability pension.
something is wrong with this picture.
As much as we like a live theatre…………….let’s focus on our health…..like our hospital and our drinking water.
Thank you Debbie.
Louise.
Louise,
I have given plenty of thought to your situation. I think about where Grenville worked all those years, and the Produce he handled ( which is sprayed with a gas to preserve it)
Where you lived, and the water your drinking.. It’s a deadly cocktail..
Funny thing is.. not everyone reacts the same way.
So it’s very hard to say it was just one thing.. But when we know we’re drinking it, why not just fix the problem is my question
I raised my kids on the west side of Cambridge where the levels are higher (or so I’m told)…and I lost quite a few friends to cancer..
A friend was told that West galt has the highest incidence of brain tumours then anywhere in Waterloo Region..
But ask the Cancer society and they tell you nothing…
Some friends are alive but probably wish they were dead (some days) with the constant pain they find themselves in
They admit to drinking excessive amounts of tap water daily.
I sold my house on Second Ave to a family member They have had 3 children since moving in… Both boys can tolerate the water, but their daughter will only drink bottled water. She gets sick whenever they try giving her the tap water.
The same with their family dog, he got ill and wouldn’t drink the water, they had to buy bottled water for him as well… but it was too late, he died of a cancer.
I was at a party last summer and out of 10 west side people at this party, 6 of them had been diagnosed with a cancer.. The women were mostly breast cancers.. I have a friend whose young daughter just had both breasts removed due too cancer.. All west side people.
Same as my old neighbourhood in Preston, where they have breathed in this chemical daily for years and years..
I have met so many seriously ill people.
With a vast array of illness, lots of cancers but lots with neurological disease, consistent with exposure to a toxic chemical.
Lupus, Lou Gehrig, Parkinson’s and no one will even consider looking at my findings..
Hence the Cambridge Advocate..
I need people to start looking at the illness in their homes and educating themselves as too what could be causing it.
Most Doctors I have met and spoke to have never heard about TCE..
And if they know about it, trust me, they shut up quickly and say nothing..
This is when I got suspicious and started my own research..
I am on a mailing list from the States ( as none exists here in Canada) and I receive email daily..
The number of people affected by this chemical would blow you away. I have a facebook group and I think I am going to add the contents of it here on the Advocate, so people can see why I am so obsessed with this deadly chemical.
Chlorinated water turns toxic when heated and taken into you system in gas vapor form while your in the shower. It also can be toxic to your system if you drink plenty of hot liquids made from tap water that contains a high chlorine count, like the water the city is serving it’s tax payers from the Grand River region.
The aid to good health is fresh water with no chemicals in its composition. Avoid contact with chlorinated water and your health will benefit greatly. They used chlorine in gas form to kill any one or thing it came in contact with during the war and in prison. The reason it is still being used today is because it is a lot cheaper to chlorinate drinking water instead of using new ionization and osmosis filter techniques.
Once again, we the citizens of Cambridge, get F’D by the people most of the taxpayers in this city have elected to keep them safe!!!! Well yes it happens, and as usual, no one cares until human lives are diagnosed with years of abuse by these corporations and city officials, who don’t feel the need to be accountable to anyone. Lets make a more wise choice the next time you put that pencil to paper on election day, and hopefully we know most of the facts about the said person, to make an INFORMED CHOICE, that just may help your future generation of family members live & breathe a lot better than the crap fed to us now…………………
I will be making a sincere effort to meet all those who decide to run in our upcoming Election
I will promote them here on the Advocate under the new category “2010 Candidates”..
Nicholas Ermeta is dominating the category at the moment… but as soon as others come on board, I will invite them to use that area all they want..
With Bio{s}} and their opinions on any topic..
Another pet project to add to my list of reasons a taxpayer protest is needed. More waste of taxpayers money while taxes are needed for the Mayors $71.8 million infrasture needs go by the way side. Good grief Charlie Brown. Lets get together, make some placards and rally at city hall. Don’t be shy.
Ron McEwen