Fast-fading dreams of opportunities lost

Nelson Mail editorial, March 28, 2011
Those who have held out hope that Nelson could one day develop itself a purpose-built performance venue - better yet, one with associated conference facilities capable of putting the city in the vanguard of conference destinations - have learned to be patient. They have had little choice, given the ludicrous delays and repeated failures of the city council (and the head-in-the-sand denials of the Tasman District Council) in addressing the glaring gap in the civic infrastructure.
But now, the project's supporters might also need to start believing in miracles, for that is surely what it will take for its latest incarnation to become a reality. The $58 million price tag attached to the new plan for a combined performing arts and conference centre development on Rutherford Park (plus a further upgrade of the Trafalgar Centre) looks like a death warrant for the dream.
For Nelson, it is a vast sum - the biggest-ever capital spending proposal put forward by the city council. Attached to a project which has always been contentious, confused and misrepresented, the mere idea of the city trying to swallow such a large commitment will create reactions ranging from apoplexy to despair among many ratepayers. Add to that the proposed timing, over a period when the rebuilding of Christchurch will place extreme pressure on the construction industry, and the grand plan looks even more impossible.
While the current city council has not yet been tested to any great degree, it will be miraculous it it can steer the project through. Rather, it seems certain that yet another - conceivably fatal - blow will be delivered to the prospect of the city and region ever providing these facilities which could offer so much to the cultural, social and economic vibrancy.
It would be unfair to entirely blame this council for the scenario now before the city. The issue should have been settled a decade ago. But while it could be seen as laudable that the council is promoting an ambitious, comprehensive approach to the city's venue demands, it could equally be viewed as naive; or even as a cunning plan, of aiming for the sky knowing that the thing will be shot down and thus conveniently removed from the books for the foreseeable future.
Given the sorry history, things are past the point where predictions are sensible. Nevertheless, the performance venue idea increasingly resembles a dead duck; common sense suggests Nelson should resign itself to always being a backwater for many touring acts. It's sad to say, but probably realistic.
It will be a farce, however, if the plan for a conference centre - as in, a purpose-built, large-scale, flexible-use venue, properly marketed and accompanied by a concerted effort to attract new hotel accommodation to the city - is similarly allowed to wither. For years, the community's business leaders and tourism advisers have pleaded for such a project. But after years of indecision, compounded by too many people's preference to be swayed by the arguments of rival operators and a clutch of malignant "commentators", that project too increasingly looks to be on a hiding to nothing.
Then again, there's always a miracle to hope for.