Quote:
Originally Posted by ajldub
Why have we lost it? Our credit rating is still A. If O'Brien wants to walk the walk he could borrow for the cash to put this together; the federal funding for years to come plus added tourist revenues and a nice destination to kick start a little development on that somewhat boring corner of downtown would pay it all back in time.
The portrait gallery should be ours as the national capital, and if we want to get aggressive over it I really believe this city could put together a very competitive proposal. It will be interesting to see how badly O'Brien wants it. Then again, the competition may well be nothing more than a political plum for a constituency on the fence in the federal election on the distant horizon. I think they have their eyes on giving it to either Quebec City or the GTA, but maybe I'm being pessimistic.
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I wouldn't underestimate our clout. After all, 10 out of 14 ridings in the Greater Ottawa area voted Conservative. My guess is they are probably not expecting anything articulate from the City of Ottawa but if we blow them away with a hungry and professional bid they would be very hard pressed to turn us down.
We have
-A location on Confederation Boulevard
-The parent staff at Library and Archives Canada just down the street
-A signature building project at 150 Elgin where the City's contribution is... the land! We did our part! There is a building plan, all it's looking for is tenants. The Gallery would be a tenant.
-The ability for Public Works to service the lease thanks to its proximity.
-A cluster of related cultural institutions that are complementary with the Portrait Galler, such as the National Archives, the National Gallery and the Museum of Photography.