One singe solitary girder arrived – we need 39 of the things. It was all all gussied up with a fresh coat of zinc galvanization.

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON  August 5th, 2012   I wasn’t in town on Friday, so I don’t know if the Burlington Teen Tour Band came marching down Brant Street to greet the flatbed truck that had the single girder and 95 additional parts that are going to be used to get us to the point where we are actually building a Pier.

I don’t know if the Mayor was on hand – I think he is in Newfoundland – talk about getting as far away from your problems as you can, but I digress.  The girder is there – the pictures tell that story.

It arrived Friday forenoon; the construction crew off loaded the steel and closed down for the weekend.

It arrived, quietly apparently on Friday before noon when everyone was thinking about getting away for the long weekend. But it is here and there is the promise of more to come real soon.

There is just the one girder  – not sure why just the one – was that all they had ready?   Hmmm.  The full story surrounding the delays in getting the steel we needed and then getting it through all the tests will have to wait for another time.  All that can be said today is that the whole truth and nothing but the truth wasn’t told.  We do have a problem with transparency in this city.

But let’s be positive.

More girders are expected next week.  We need a total of 39 of them to complete the Pier and sometime next week, once we have this holiday weekend behind us – the real world will present itself again and we will listen to what city hall has to say is the game plan this time.

The pathway  built to access the “instant beach” that has been created to the west of the pier, snuggled up against the Spencer Smith Park promenade, will be open and available for Michele Benoit to walk ashore, when she finishes her swim across Lake Ontario swim August 18th – that should be the first major event in which the Pier plays a part.

So that too is progress.

If the weather we are experiencing now holds through September and into the fall we just might be able to make up the time that was lost in the Spring and Summer.

City Hall has decided that we are to get Updates every three weeks instead of the scheduled every six weeks.  We should get an update whenever there is something the public should know.  It’s amazing that city hall will have relevant information sitting on their desks and keep it there until there is a scheduled Update.

But let’s stop carping and spend the summer evening wandering by the Pier and watching the girders being dropped into place and the bolts pulled in tightly.  When the crane arrives to lift the girders can we assume that it won’t fall over and have us starting all over – again.

 

 

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