I too am proud of the way in which the BWVRA handled itself in this matter. I feel it is important for residents to have a voice in what transpires in their community.

I guess some of the things that need to be addressed are “what lessons have we learned?”, “are we in a better position to represent the community’s point of view for the next event?”, do we need to enlist additional support from our elected officials, or just get full support from our city councillor?”

However, I don’t believe we should be basing our arguments nor emphasizing solely on such abtracts as ” that building is ugly”. Remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What might be ugly to you is undoubtedly “nice” to someone else. Some people like “Victorian style”, some like “contemporary sleek”.

After all, developers are business people and will design and sell to entice who they believe are potential buyers, not for those who already have a different version of the product.

At the same time, residents should be able to extract through negotiation design changes in exchange for giving up something in return. If we can’t, hen the system needs to be changed. In which case, the BWVRA and other similar bodies need to begin lobbying for change at the political level that can actually make those changes happen.