The 2014-2018 Council (including the former Ward 2 Councillor), set aside $5 million to potentially fund the “Ribbon of the Thames” portion of the “Back to the River” project.

What has become known as the “bridge to nowhere”, a suspended lookout bridge and river facing amphitheater space, has already ballooned in cost from $2 million to $7 million, with additional costs for shoreline work, excavation, and flood mitigation measures coming in at another $3-4 million.

Staff pegs the cost of the “Ribbon of the Thames” at a minimum of $12.8 million dollars, with only $2 million in private donations from the London Community Foundation, leaving the project with at least a $5 million funding gap even if we spend all $5 million of the public dollars set aside.

And that’s without spending a penny on the removal of the decommissioned Springbank Bank that has gates and hydraulic systems currently sitting at the bottom of the river.

The 2020 property tax increase already has a draft increase of 2.7% projected for Londoners, without doing any of the Back to the River project or taking new steps to address issues like the badly needed social housing repairs, tackling road and sewer infrastructure repairs faster, doing a better job of snow clearing, or improving transit.

That is the reason I have been fighting to put “The Ribbon of the Thames” part of the Back to the River project on the shelf.  With all the very real needs facing London, including a $55 million back log in repairs to bridges that actually get people places, we cannot afford to spend money on this project.

The London Free Press ran an article this week on this issue, but the funding gap it quotes of $3 million represents the low end number, the reality is probably closer to $5-6 million.

You can read the Free Press article here:  https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/one-river-environmental-assessment-pegs-costs-at-14-6-million

This story was also reported on by AM 980 Radio at: https://globalnews.ca/news/5257508/report-pegs-cost-of-stage-1-of-back-to-the-river-at-14-6m-exceeding-initial-estimate/

For more on this issue check out the following stories:

River hassles leave Foundation leery of future city collaboration

Riverfront overhaul stays in strategic plan, but maybe not the budget