This is a follow up to all Nassagaweya Tennis Club posts.

I am still convinced that something other than a tennis club may have been a better option, but I suppose that’s a decision for Nassagaweya residents.  I accept the possibility that such few people use the tennis club today because of its poor condition.  Bottom-line is that we first have to agree that it’s okay to spend this much money on Nassagaweya at this point.  If we agree then the second question is what specific upgrade is most appropriate.  Perhaps us Urbanites should let Nassagaweyans (is that a word?  Well, now it is) decide that themselves. 

Jan Mowbray, Ward 3 Councillor from Nassagaweya, was kind enough to have a detailed conversation about it (isn’t it sad when half the councillors you contact do not even bother to send a single-line response?)

Here is what she sent me  :-

(If you cannot see the entire post then please click the ‘Continue Reading‘ link below) 

There are two ways of looking at the answer to your question. 

   1.  The federal and provincial governments want to provide money for  projects but only on `shovel-ready` projects, so the town submitted a number of proposals. Some of which include renovations to John Tonnelli Arena, Milton Sports Centre expansion, Arts & Entertainment Centre, Central Library, /and/ the Nassagaweya Tennis Club. None of these projects would have been in the 2010 budget or perhaps even the 2011 budget, so you can say that the provincial and federal governments have deemed sports and recreation projects to be priorities – and the emphasis was on expansion rather than new projects. And given the need for renovations at John Tonnelli /and /the Tennis Club, there was no way the town was going to turn down the opportunity to get this money.

 2. The second way of looking at this is that $6million goes into the town coffers ever year from the racetrack but nothing flows back to Nassagaweya – except for the traffic problems caused by that facility. When the town took over Nassagaweya, it had its own dump, it had its own library, it had a vibrant village of Campbellville. Virtually nothing has come back to Nassagaweya except for bare upkeep of rural roads. The dump was closed (not necessarily a bad thing), the library was closed – I still hear about that today. Every new facility in urban Milton is being put on the east side of town – with no consideration for the 7000 or so residents in ward 3.

The tennis club building is very old, very inefficient. Most of the building is used for town storage. There is very small space for tennis club use. With money spent on the tennis club, they will have a decent surface, another court, and will be able to take on new members. The members themselves contribute greatly to the upkeep and maintenance of the club – very similar to the Milton Tennis Club.

I could add a third reason – Rural residents generally have very high property assessments – not everyone in the rural area has an estate property (thanks to MPAC), making for high property taxes to pay for things in the urban core that most rural residents don`t benefit from.

You could say, that it was our choice to move here, and it was. But services have moved farther away,to the east and south side of town.

We still have 5 dirt roads in Ward 3, the paving of which is ever delayed because of priorities in urban Milton as is every other project in the area. Many things keep being put off with the result that when work IS finally done, it`s at a higher cost than it would have been had it been done years earlier.

Please don`t get me wrong about expenditures in urban Milton – families have moved to Milton because of its assets, and the more people who move to Milton, there more the need.

The bottom line is that the provincial and federal governments are the ones who decided where they were going to put their money and the town put up the projects that needed the work – the town did its best to fit needed projects into the parameters set and have been successful with at least seven projects to date.

 Would you have the town NOT apply for the money which pays for 2/3 of the costs, or would you have us wait and pay for an ever-increasing higher cost all by ourselves? It isn’t easy no matter how you look at it. I would appreciate your input.

She also sent the detailed project description:

Detailed project components include:

• survey and site assessment
• clubhouse demolition and reconstruction
• grading and site servicing
• site entry, paved parking and lighting
• tennis court reconstruction, including lighting
• exterior multi-use plaza
• playground structure
• site landscaping

There is a point she mentioned a number of times that, to be fair to her, I should mention as well :-

… and remember – once again, let me say – Mohawk Racetrack contributes $6million dollars annually to the coffers that pay for many other things in the urban area but very little has ever gone back into the Nassagaweya public domain.

I don’t agree with everything here, but the overall summary is that: 1. Nassagaweya residents deserve some facilities too; 2. This is a good time because of ‘free money’ (even though, as Brian Pennman, Ward 1 Councillor, puts it: “there is only one taxpayer”); 3. This is what Nassagaweya residents want; and 4. In the words of Ward 4 Councillor: Wendy Schau: “It is the only improvement in their area planned for any time in the future.  The residents of the rural area are tax-payers too and Milton has a history of valuing their contributions to our community. ”

If we agree with the first two statements then there is no need for any further discussions (ya ya, I know it’s $15,000 or so / member, but I am told that “there is [nothing] that could be built that would bring [a higher] ratio of people to a rural facility.”)  Colin Best (no introduction needed) promised to understand all work involved before voting on the matter. 

Now if we can just get some answers on the slow (and unsteady) pace of construction on Derry, East of James Snow :@ (picture me waiving my fist with an angry face.  I swear, the frustration at the pace of progress on Derry has decreased my life expectancy by several years.  The end-date has been pushed forward to fall next year! But then again, apparently Derry Blvd, West of Bronte, was finished last year, so who knows!)