At its best, economic development requires a minimal amount of government intervention. Ideally, government sets up a strong environment in which business can grow and then private enterprise comes in and does the rest, but sometimes, government needs to be more active.
Cornwall needs more active government intervention to spur growth. The City of Cornwall’s brownfield program has lead to the development of lands that would otherwise be left fallow. In the same way that the City’s brownfield program has lead to the growth of business on barren land, the City’s purchase of the old BMO bank on Pitt St. will lead to economic growth in Cornwall’s downtown.
When this paper first published the story about the City’s purchase of the BMO building there were some comments about how it was a waste of taxpayer money, I disagree. The last time I drove down that part of Pitt St. that the bank is on I counted five empty buildings on that one block including the bank, so my question is, if the City didn’t buy that building, who would have?
No private business would have bought that large empty bank and have been willing to invest the money necessary to remodel it. Without the City of Cornwall stepping in, the BMO building would have sat empty and served as another sign of a dying downtown.
Instead the City’s purchase of this building is a bold statement that the municipality is willing to invest and is ready to revive its own downtown core. As I stated earlier in this column, it is a government’s responsibility to create the environment for private business to grow. Just like with the brownfield fund, where the municipal government helps to pay to clean toxic wasteland, they are cleaning up the empty wasteland of downtown and creating a fertile environment.
The BMO building is a great site for a new arts centre. There is plenty of parking in the municipal parking lot behind St. John’s Presbyterian Church, and up the street behind the library. Also, an arts centre will attract more people to our downtown and give them a reason to spend time there. Local bars and restaurants like Truffles and Schnitzels will benefit from shows being held at the arts centre as it will attract thirsty patrons.
Also, the arts centre can be a place for kids. I can see there being drama classes, music classes, plays, daycares, improv classes and more. The City of Cornwall has bought a great property and given the right direction, it could become the heart around which a new, vibrant downtown can be built.
Like I said, there are five empty properties on the same block as the bank, that’s not counting the rest of the downtown or even the rest of that part of Pitt St., just that block. What would you rather? That the City left the BMO building to stay empty, and that they leave every building empty until we have no downtown businesses? Or would you rather they buy one property and jump start economic growth? Private enterprise has not done that, and couldn’t. The municipal government can revive our downtown core and attract new businesses and jobs.
