Sand in the Shorts: Sci-Fi Stalks City Hall

By James Phieffer - also published in edited form in the July 16, 2011 Intelligencer

I am a big fan of science fiction. A devotee of shows such as Stargate (all of them), Star Trek (ditto), Babylon 5, Primeval... So, as I watch the ridiculously slow construction of the tourist kiosk in Zwick's, and the complete lack of any progress on the new race track and exhibition grounds, I am able to understand the problem Belleville is facing.

Apparently, Belleville has a problem with multiple anomalies which slow the flow of time, or apparently stop it all together, in various places.

One anomaly finally seems to have disappeared with the announcement of the new fire station in the northeast industrial park. But another, which seems to have stopped the east end arterial route with a 401 interchange as soon as it was announced (concurrent with the announcement of the building of the Sears catalogue facility) lives on, meaning Belleville east of Bridge Street has no reasonable access to the area directly north, but on the other side of the tracks.

The obvious anomaly is the one which has stopped all work on the race track.

And then there's the kiosk.

Now, if this were a sci-fi story, we could turn to Mr Spock (or Primeval's Connor Temple, or Daniel Jackson and Samantha Carter of Stargate...) to come up with a solution that would rid us of these pockets of inertia. I'm sure he would find it all “fascinating”.

But we don't have a Spock et al, so we have to rely on the brain trust otherwise known as City Hall. Here, too, there is evidence of chronological quicksand.

What else can explain no one noticing that the pictures to be used on the kiosk were not of sufficient resolution to be blown up for use on the kiosk during the time it was being constructed? The only other possibility is someone seriously dropped the ball because there is no excuse for this screw up. Modern technology allows such manipulations to be done fairly quickly, so there was plenty of time for these to be selected, double checked, and produced long before they were needed at the construction site.

And what of the racetrack? The time has long since passed for Baymount to put up or get out. But the Belleville Agricultural Committee and City Council have both let this charade go on. There needs to be some real, public pressure put on Baymount, with a firm and final “drop dead” date for construction to begin. Otherwise my nephew, who just turned 7, will still be hoping for a new race track when he is my age.

The city is missing out because of both these issues. The kiosk should have been completed before the summer tourist season, because now we are potentially missing out on tourism revenue. And how much tax and other revenue would have been generated by a racetrack facility which was actually open and functioning, rather than a large area of dirt with equipment parked on it which was modern in 1950.

What's happening in Belleville isn't science fiction, it's a ridiculous fact. And right now, the idea of an efficient city administration would seem to be pure fantasy.