Sent August 22, 2011
Sent to Mayor Shewfelt of Goderich, and all of Goderich City Council
Note: I send these letters quite regularly, but rarely post them here. I am under no pretense that these are anything but hackneyed, rambling bits of nonsense, but I send them anyway in the hopes that they occasionally do more good than harm. I sent this one the day following Goderich’s tragic tornado in August, knowing that such sentiment would be important should the worst come to pass. A month has gone by, and the worst has indeed come to pass, and it seems my letter has fallen on deaf ears. I received no response to this message. I present it here anyway. Read this story for an October 2 update on the upcoming demolition of two heritage structures, with a hat-tip to Lloyd Alter.
Mayor Shewfelt,
My name is Nick and I’m an urban activist and enthusiast living in Toronto. I visit the Huron coast often, and I’m saddened to hear about yesterday’s tornado, and the loss of life and damage it has caused. I’m confident that the people of Goderich will pull together and help each other through this, just as mine did when Dufferin and Simcoe counties were hit in 1985. I was a child then, but watching these communities come together in a time of tragedy was an inspiration to me that I will not soon forget. I know Goderich will witness the same thing.
I’m writing this email as a warning. Please don’t let storm damage be the cause of demolition in Goderich’s gorgeous and historic downtown. I spent a lot of time in Brantford, Ontario last year desperately trying to save one of Canada’s oldest stretches of pre-Confederation buildings and it was completely for naught: the mayor, who sat on the Board of Directors of a university that wanted access to the land, presided over the wholesale destruction of much of their downtown, with only a vocal minority of councillors supporting any option that might save the row. It was the wrong thing to do ecologically, financially, socially, and it was heartbreaking to watch. Their mayor at the time, Mike Hancock, declared: “The worst thing we could do is have a plan,” and, predictably, the land still sits empty. They clearcut the soul of Brantford, as well as any hopes it may have had for the recovery of its downtown. A generation of young citizens who had taken to Facebook and to protest marches was left heartbroken.
I would love to know that Brantford’s sad story has become a lesson to Ontario’s other small towns and cities. It’s hard to truly gauge the value that historical structures have in their community, especially when they collectively make up a town’s centre. The century-old buildings in your downtown are your heart and your soul, and your bones, too. Gathering the political will to demolish history in the name of progress, or the economy, or jobs, will never be an impossible task here in Canada. It’s up to those of us who know better to fight this urge whenever and wherever appropriate, and to protect the elements of our communities that contribute in ways that cannot be quantified in terms of a bottom line. Protecting our history is always a smart long-term investment.
Use Goderich’s catastrophe to build, and to grow. Give reconstruction jobs to local people who may need the work, and not far-off contractors. Use this as an opportunity to rebuild downtown’s structures to 21st-century building codes, instead of knocking them down and replacing them with structures that can never measure up. Do what Brantford demonstrated that it could not do: build and govern with positivity, and with hope. You really are one of Canada’s prettiest towns, and I’m confident that yesterday’s tragedy won’t change that one bit.
Thanks for your time. Sorry if I rambled a bit.
We’re all sending our thoughts your way from here in the GTA, and we’re very sorry for your loss.
I’m cc’ing this message to members of council, as well.
Regards,
Nick Warzin
Christopher Hume’s thoughts on Brantford’s demolition: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/826524–hume-the-troubled-future-of-history
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