Sault Ste. Marie Police Service building. Darren Taylor/SooToday
Sault Ste, Marie Mayor Christian Provenzano disclosed Monday that he s had discussions with Police Chief Hugh Stevenson about moving police headquarters downtown.
Provenzano confirmed at Monday s City Council meeting that the local police services board is interested in leaving its existing building on Second Line. From my personal perspective, if a new building is built. I would like to see that building built in the downtown, the mayor said. I would like to see all those employees brought into the downtown core. I think there s a lot of sense to locate the building in the downtown.
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In regard to the massive blunder that occurred when line painters from Guelph changed the traffic pattern at Albert and East Streets back in 2015 and city officials endorsed the mistake, there might now be light at the end of the tunnel. Chief Administrative Officer Malcolm White told me in an email the way the lane configuration changed “is not the best practice to follow” and says there is agreement a further review is necessary. This, of course, is welcome news to me after six years of railing about the changes made by the line painters from Guelph who, instead of following the lines that had been there for about 50 years, totally went off script.
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A plaza has been designed to become the focal point and anchor for Sault Ste. Marie’s downtown.
City council gave the final nod Monday to the final design concepts for the downtown plaza, but warned that if proposed funding applications don’t materialize, they may reconsider this plan to trim costs.
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The revised design presented is estimated to cost $8,447,068 requiring the city to contribute a further $1,472,068 and make up for any shortcoming from a proposed $600,000 fundraising project – of which $200,000 has already been secured.