By “Been down that road before”

The process to close Barrie Central is well underway, so before the ship has sailed, let’s learn from the past when Prince of Wales and King Edward were taken from our communities:

The Prohibitive to Repair label is based on inflated figures from private consultants who spent little time evaluating the school structure or actual costs. Our school board must allow new contractors in to give estimates on repairs before real numbers can be considered. King Edward, now Unity Christian H.S., has been renovated to meet the necessary standards.

The ARC process is flawed, from the selection of participants to the cruelty of pitting school communities against each other. Outcomes have always been predetermined.

The planners at the Board have been wrong many times. In fact, the very first ARC which recommended closing King Edward, after months of meetings, using all of the experts, statistics and planners, came up with this:  “Close King Edward and send all students by bus 4 km away to Trillium Woods, as projected enrollment will be approx. 200 pupils”. In its first year, Trillium Woods was at over 400 pupils, without having King Edward students transfer. By trying to solve the nightmare of urban sprawl, the Board is creating another one by destroying the heart of our downtown and historic neighbourhoods.

The school trustee system is skewed in favour of rural communities and smaller towns. Only 3 trustees represent Barrie. The other 7 represent smaller communities – also facing school closures. Why would they vote to save a school in a city where they don’t live or represent? They will free up much needed funds for their own regions if they close it. Those 7 “non-Barrie” trustees represent regions that rely heavily on busing – it’s what all the rural kids do. Therefore, the “Green” argument, the one in favour of kids walking, speaking out against the pitfalls of busing…not convincing.

The other “Green” argument about the wastefulness of tearing down a repairable building, the health hazards of new building materials and parking lots, idling engines, suburban sprawl…it falls on deaf ears.

Petitions don’t work; they get ignored.

The emotional argument, based on history, roots, legacies, and a sense of community…also ineffective.  King Edward and POW were both over 100 years old. Despite teary, heartfelt and powerful presentations to the ARCs and board, they voted to close those heritage schools.

So, what does work?”   Every concerned person calling and writing trustees daily with their opinions! Citizens from all over Simcoe County, not just Barrie, must be heard; their concerns documented.  Attendance at meetings is essential.  By not showing up, you don’t quite care enough.

Finally, the bottom line is cash. The school board doesn’t want to put up the money for the renovations needed to update Central, especially when they are looking at inflated figures and feeling pressure from new/suburban communities to build new schools.  Partnerships have to be made and strong ideas presented to an open minded ARC.

Barrie Central Collegiate is next on the chopping block.

Schools matter to us in Barrie. If you rise to vote for anything in the next municipal election, please vote for our children and their schools. Our public school board has repeatedly presented downtown Barrie schools as buildings that can’t be fixed. That is so not the truth. King Edward closed and was re-opened by a Christian School high school with minimal money; our school board was awarded millions while the high school opened on thousands.

The kids who were in the district of King Edward received no extra funds in their schools despite the promises. Prince of Wales is closing at the end of this school year because it was presented as “prohibitive to repair” to the Ministry by our school board despite several external consultants who recognized that Prince of Wales needs minimal money for repairs and upgrades.

Nobody with expertise was consulted on this historic building and its contributions to a City. Now Barrie Central is on the chopping block. The school board has finally admitted its agenda with the recent Accommodation Review of Barrie Central. The mandate was clear on September 21. Our school board said clearly that they want to close down anything central and build into the suburbs. Anyone who has studied even a little bit of urban planning knows that this thinking is from the 1970s.

Build out. It’s rotten thinking, because if we don’t build in, we have a rotten core. I urge my community to study the core issues of urban planning and to vote to have vision for our city that includes education in our downtown.

For circulation to Barrie City council and staff September 20, 2010:

Why would anyone at city hall engineer a name change that does not respect history, heritage and people?

A professional consultant hired by the city of Barrie recently addressed the lack of suitable directional  signage that fails to inform people that we even have a waterfront or how to get there. New signage will soon be in place to fix these short-comings and oversights. This solution to rebranding Barrie’s jewel of a waterfront and advertising this attribute is the right thing to do, not changing the name of the future GO station to Barrie Waterfront. If there are people in Barrie that do not know that we have a waterfront shame on each of us and our councilors for not informing them.

Many Barrie residents are incredulous that another decision has jumped the tracks, circumvented public input and consultation. For a few years the working names of the planned GO stations in Barrie were South Barrie and North Barrie. Several months ago Metrolinx unofficially changed the future northern station working name to Allandale Station.

They changed the project working name to avoid confusion using the name Barrie twice. The choice of Allandale Station was common sense and respected the neighbourhood and building beside the future platform. This change was precipitated because of safety, emergency and logistical reasons.

Library and internet sources have an abundance of references regarding the historic Allandale neighbourhood of Barrie. Its heritage and history is beyond refute and holds great weight and credibility. The South Barrie GO station has already established itself for a number of years. Its name implies there is another station north of it, or will be in the future. With the utmost respect for the history of this area of Barrie, there is no need to change this station’s name to St. Paul’s.

It makes sense that one of the two Barrie GO station names utilizes the name of the municipality it resides in. This is an established naming protocol and practice throughout the GO rail system. It does not make sense under the current circumstances to change the station name to St. Paul’s. Such a change would cause confusion to travelers who would not be aware that they had in fact arrived in Barrie or that it is not a new station, just renamed.

With the approval of Heritage Barrie and City Council, ERA Architects’ have already established that the station will be restored to the 1905 era standards. This includes the restoration of the Grand Trunk Railway station sign of Allandale. Work is already underway in the next stage of restoration despite missteps over the last few years and as recently as a few weeks ago.

Neither Heritage Barrie or the Barrie Historical Association can or will allow anything else to be put on the restored building because of the guidelines that are in place to preserve its heritage and that of this neighbourhood. Some may argue that only the platform would be called Barrie Waterfront and the station would still be called Allandale Station. Such a choice would cause further confusion to users – Metrolinx does not use two names at any other stations in the system.

Very simply, city officials cannot change the name of the building and therefore the future GO station.

There are currently 59 GO train stops in the 7 current Metrolinx rail routes. Only two of them refer to a geographic location – eg. Etobicoke North & Barrie South. Three refer to educational or travel destinations. 6 Refer to major streets and 18 share the name of the municipality they serve. The vast majority of station names, 30 of the 59, reflect the neighbourhood they serve using a historical link to the area’s past. These names echo the area, communities, villages, and towns of bygone days. The names thereby respect the heritage, history and people of the
past and present.

City Council endorsed the Historic Neighbourhood Strategy initiative that engaged many people across the city of Barrie over the last year, culminating in a report that council recently accepted. Allandale residents were some of the most engaged of the 6 historic neighourhoods and this process was to set and establish a precedence for a new approach to planning in our city. Consult the people first before major decisions are made.

Council has yet to conduct consultations of residents and interest groups to determine the future possible uses of the restored train station buildings. On the top of many peoples’ list is using part of the station as a station. What a novel thought! In conversations with GO officials last year I suggested that each of the 12 future platform waiting areas could be named and designed to reflect and respect historical facts, people or events of this area. I was told
that GO was open to this possibility and that future public meetings would address the many concerns and ideas that people held.

These meetings have simply not happened though repeatedly Allandale residents have requested them. Council’s credibility and that of the Historic Neighbourhood Strategy initiative hinges on the decision of the name of the new GO station. Call it what it is – Allandale Station. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

I humbly ask council to make a formal motion to keep the new GO station’s name as Allandale Station, just as Metrolinx was planning on and what people want.

Renaming the Barrie South GO Station to St Paul’s GO makes sense. St Paul’s is an old community, formerly part of Innisfil but now part of Barrie. Renaming the station recognizes the history of the area in which the relatively new station is situated.

In contrast, renaming the Allandale GO Station the ‘Barrie Waterfront GO’ is a pure and utter insult to the history of the area and the current Allandale community. It flies in the face of the fine work the city has done with its Historic Neighbourhood Strategy, and its encouragement of a community of neighbourhoods.

Allandale, once the rival town across the bay from Barrie, remains a distinct community to this day. Starting in the 1850s, trains pulled into Allandale Station, once a jewel of the line.

Today, our city is boldly restoring the original station and preparing to build a new GO platform that will bring trains back into the heart of our historic railway community. The respect of these investments is completely undermined by stripping away the Allandale name without public consultation.

If Barrie must be part of the name, add it on without taking away our heritage. Call it the Barrie Allandale GO Station or Allandale Barrie GO.

Let’s leap forward, but not at the cost of our own history. Don’t steal from Allandale while giving to St Paul’s: at very least, Allandale deserves the same respect and tributes.