Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Canadian Air and Space Museum evicted, possibly to be replaced by ice rink

Photo credit:  Aaron Lynett/National Post
 Museum volunteer Bill Tee looks over the replica of the Avro Arrow (not pictured) that he helped to build at The Canadian Air and Space Museum at Downsview Park in Toronto, Tuesday evening, September 20, 2011

Photo Credit: Aaron Lynett/National Post
The replica of the Avro Arrow is reflected in old framed photographs at The Canadian Air and Space Museum at Downsview Park

The Crown corporation that owns Downsview Park has served an eviction notice to the Canadian Air and Space Museum, citing plans to locate a four-pad ice complex on the property.

The small museum contains thousands of artifacts, including a full-sized replica of the Avro CF-105 Arrow, while the building itself was the original 1929 home of de Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd. Founded more than a decade ago, the museum is also a registered charity, but had failed to pay its rent all year.

CEO Robert Cohen says he was stunned Tuesday to find the locks changed and an eviction notice hanging on the door.

“We have people showing up every five to 10 minutes wanting to reclaim their artifact that they donated to the museum. It’s pickup truck after pickup truck,” Mr. Cohen said. “It’s just terrible.”

The museum hit a rough patch in recent months after professional fundraising efforts failed, leaving the organization deeply in debt and spurring numerous high-profile staffers to quit, he said. A new crew was put in place under Mr. Cohen’s direction, and began working to clean up the facility and make it financially viable.

“We were on a great trajectory here to get our house into much better shape,” he said, noting museum staff met with representatives from Downsview Park on Sept. 12 to discuss future plans and to pay a debt of $22,000 in back rent. That settled the museum’s rental debt up to the end of 2010, but still left the organization owing the park more than $100,000 for this year.

Though the meeting seemed positive, Mr. Cohen said, the park returned the $22,000 two days later, along with a letter stating the museum was in breach and had six days to pay the full amount.

“The park was not forthright,” he said. “They were not honest with us about what their overall plan was.”

David Soknacki, chairman of the board for the Crown corporation that maintains Downsview Park, would not comment on the rent issue, but said all six tenants of the building at 65 Carl Hall Rd. were served notice that the park would take possession of the facility in six months.

“The reason we need that is because the building is crumbling, and we have an operator that is willing to invest $20-million in the building in order to put in a four-pad ice complex,” Mr. Soknacki said, noting the rinks, funded by private investment, would serve hundreds of thousands of people for hockey games and public skates.

Toronto’s dearth of available skating facilities was addressed last year in a similar proposal for a stacked, four-pad hockey arena in the Port Lands. Though funding remained an unknown, the $88-million proposal was approved by the Miller administration in 2010, only to be squashed by the Ford team this year.

Mr. Soknacki said his corporation has spoken with representatives from the museum and all the other tenants at 65 Carl Hall — including two soccer clubs, a design studio and a social agency — and will be inviting feedback on “what, if any, their future is here at the park.”

The park has offered to store the museum’s artifacts and assist with moving expenses, and will evaluate any proposal by the museum to continue operations elsewhere in the park, Mr. Soknacki said. For the next six months, however, tenants can come and go from the Carl Hall facility as they please.

Local councillor Maria Augimeri (York Centre), however, was quick to condemn the park’s decision as an assault on Canadian aerospace history: “It shows that the federal government is so fixated on the bottom line it’s even willing to throw the Avro Arrow to the curb for collection.”

http://news.nationalpost.com

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