Cut to the chase — please!

This seems especially appropriate when applied to the current controversy over the proposed installation of synthetic turf on Westmount Park playing fields. While it is a serious issue that should not be diminished by a passing comparison to slapstick comedy, there are some absurd elements to it—especially how some people are accusing the City of Westmount of being undemocratic. If anything, this level of stupidity only weakens the pro-grass argument, for the City has been open to debate from the beginning, even organizing a well-attended public information meeting where all opinions and the findings of contradictory reports were not only allowed but encouraged.

The main problem is that if recent history has taught us anything, it is that the findings of any commissioned report are going to reflect the interests of those who commissioned it. We only have to look at the dreadful megacity debates and subsequent demerger battles to see how convoluted reports can complicate relatively straightforward issues. It was disgusting. No one really knew who to believe because everyone seemed to have a different opinion—plus a report to back it up!

So enough of the reports to favour this theory or that opinion. The synthetic turf issue should not be decided by irrelevant, meaningless statistics but by the City and its residents.

But how will this mess ever be resolved? Wise heads nod toward that tried-and-true, beloved Westmount tradition—the democratic referendum. This may mean a lot of extra work for City employees, for the legal preparations are considerable, but if they were prepared to do it for the relatively insignificant issue of banning medical practices from private residences, this major debate certainly merits equal consideration.

Of course the City would prefer not to take that route, because the vast majority of interested people—the ones most likely to go out and vote—are vehemently against the turf proposal. But even if the pro-turf side is voted down and the proposal rejected, City officials can still hold their heads high, secure in the knowledge that they honestly tried to do what they deemed best for the community.