Municipality-owned Broad Band Internet Corridor Construction Begins in September 2017

It's a plan that has been discussed since 2007 in hopes of transforming the municipality into what the politicians are calling an "Intelligent City." Starting in September 2017, the shovels hit the ground for a five year project to a install broad band internet corridor owned by the municipality.

Phase 1 will run along the municipality's busiest street and connect the library, the municipal offices, and the hospital.

Phase 2 will run through the business district.

The hope is that this high speed broad band internet service will draw in young people and create jobs.

The investment in the broad band infrastructure is currently estimated at $9,000,000, but the municipality plans to have it paid for within 20 years.

Does this plan sound familiar? You could be forgiven if you thought this plan was for Newmarket, (although Mayor Van Bynen's Council is nowhere near this level of preparedness). No, we're talking about New Westminster (population 65,000 - as compared to Newmarket's population of 88,000).

The key difference is that New Westminster has $9,000,000 to spend. New Westminster is flush with cash and its politicians are proud to boast how well funded their project is.

The Town of Newmarket, with just $18,000,000 in total reserves, does not have that amount of money to spend, unless Council foolhardily decided to bet it's bank gambling on a business plan that is full of optimism, but high in risk. You can see the Town of Newmarket's reserves in this information report published on June 15, 2016.

Isn't it time that Tony Van Bynen and his Council allies admit to the residents and the business community that his Giga Bit Corridor is a non-starter? After so many years of economic development failures (Davis Drive, York University Campus, Harry Walker Parkway, Shared Digital Imaging and so on), residents have gotten pretty used to Van Bynen/Taylor coming up short.

But before another nickle is invested in "researching" broad band internet, residents need to be shown that their is a funding strategy that makes sense. Will it mean selling off Newmarket Hydro, for example, and letting go of our golden goose to pursue their vanity project?

I believe we can chalk up Newmarket's Giga Bit Corridor initiative up to a desperate Mayor and his allies who were willing to promise voters anything to dupe us into believing that they have a plan for new economic growth. This promise came during an election campaign but it appears as though this Council doesn't have any intention of following through with it.

For those keeping score at home:

• Davis Drive Bus Lanes
• York University Campus
• Harry Walker Parkway
• Shared Digital Imaging
• Finland/ Estonia Junket
• Giga Bit Corridor

The list of Van Bynen/Taylor endorsed "economic development" failures just continues to grow.