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Pave plan

CITY COUNCIL did the only thing it could do April 5 when it stitched together a last-minute plan to rebuild the piece of McConnell Ave. on the bench that resembles a four-wheel drive obstacle course on steroids.

CITY COUNCIL did the only thing it could do April 5 when it stitched together a last-minute plan to rebuild the piece of McConnell Ave. on the bench that resembles a four-wheel drive obstacle course on steroids.

Of course, this November’s municipal election may have had something to do with the sudden ability of council, after months of pleading poverty during budget deliberations, to magically conjure up $700,000 from surplus and then break into the piggy bank it had set aside to buy equipment for a further $700,000.

That $700,000, a version of robbing Peter to pay Paul, will have to be repaid over the next two years, something that may hamstring future councils. But to leave McConnell in  the state it is in now would be a matter of public safety in addition to being simply embarrassing.

It brings to mind former councillor Rich McDaniel’s mid-1990s plan to establish a 25-year, $50 million road  program. While it would have required a tax increase, McDaniel and city officials of the day reasoned that a long-term plan would ultimately be cheaper and cost effective.

Of course, such a plan requires as much political courage as it does cash and both are put at risk given the vagaries of uncertain economic cycles. Mr. McDaniel’s plan was never taken up but a modern-day version may be worth a look if only to prevent what is turning out to be an annual whip-sawing agony of road building priorities.

Editorial, The Terrace Standard, April 13, 2011.