Save the Massey before it's too late

Save the Massey before it's too late

by Fionna Bailey

EXCERPTS (my emphasis):

It seems to me that there are three stakeholders in the unfortunate situation at which we have arrived for the property bounded by 10th Avenue and Eighth Avenue, and Sixth Street and Eighth Street which is currently owned by the city and the school board.

1. The school board who owns half of the property, in the name of the citizens of New Westminster, and they need a site to build the new high school.
They also need a site unencumbered by a cemetery. Currently the Massey is situated on the east end of the school board part of the property.

2. The city owns the other half of the property, in the name of the citizens of New Westminster, on which is located the Mercer Stadium, which is used by the citizens and students of New Westminster.
It must not be forgotten that the whole of the four-block property was once owned by the city until a land swap was undertaken with the school board for half of the property to enable the city to build the current city hall on its present site.

3. The third stakeholder is the citizenry of New Westminster, who really are the owners of the property, and who elect both the school trustees and the city councillors to manage the buildings and property in their name and on their behalf (and their children's and grandchildren's behalf), both now and into the future. This fact is often overlooked by the first two stakeholders.

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It is obvious to all and sundry who make up the third stakeholder position that a solution cannot be found to a problem of this complexity unless all the stakeholders are actively and enthusiastically participating in the process to find a solution to save the Massey Theatre from demolition - demolition that will destroy a $60-million building from our heritage and from our children's and grandchildren's future. Sixty million dollars that will not be found from anywhere else to build another comparable theatre.
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Part of the solution has to be a joint willingness to totally rethink the site, for the city to own the land that the theatre sits on, and for the Massey Theatre Society to manage the Massey on behalf of the community.

A solution that includes the above will allow the Massey Theatre Society to raise funds federally, provincially and municipally, as well as from private donors.

I would suggest to all the citizens of New Westminster that they let the city and the school board know, in no uncertain terms, that all parties must come together and make saving the Massey Theatre happen now.

Tomorrow will be too late, after the wrecker's ball has slammed into the Massey crushing it forever.

Fionna Bailey was a longtime theatre teacher in New Westminster.

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