Following a heated and sometimes personal debate around the council table last night over whether the city should pay $7,000 for a rainbow crosswalk in downtown Barrie, Coun. Mike McCann says he was able to raise the cash before lunch today.
"I thought there was a real missed opportunity by not reaching out to the business community and I wanted this to be celebrated by as many people as wanted to be involved," McCann told BarrieToday.
"It didn't take me very long," added McCann, one of the councillors who didn't think the city should be picking up the tab. "I was talking to a business associate and he was actually the one who offered, so that's how the ball got rolling. I made a few more phone calls and we were able to raise the money."
In a motion put forward at Monday night's general committee meeting by Coun. Keenan Aylwin, and which still requires approval by city council, the rainbow crosswalk would be created across Simcoe Street between Meridian Place and Heritage Park, where the Barrie Pride parade ends. As it stands right now, the money for the crosswalk would come from the community benefit reserve.
But McCann said he was "incredibly confident" he could avoid dipping into the taxbase.
McCann said he secured $7,000 from a small group of donors by 10:43 a.m., Tuesday.
"When I heard that nobody had reached out to the public, that's when the ball started rolling in my head," the Ward 10 councillor said. "This is something that's an easy fix and not use taxpayers' money by raising the funds."
McCann is keeping the donor details close to his vest, because the matter still needs to be addressed at city council.
"It wasn't a lot of people, just people who donated lots of money," he said.
The councillor will bring it up for discussion at next Monday's city council meeting.
While councillors said Monday night they support the idea of inclusivity that the rainbow crosswalk represents, some said they didn't think the cost should fall to taxpayers. That led to pointed remarks between councillors and some jabs from the gallery.
"I thought last night's debate got real personal, real emotional, and I wasn't happy with how it came out," McCann said. "After the fact, there were some choice words by some residents of Barrie that I thought were over the top, and that's it."
If the rainbow crosswalk is approved at next week's city council meeting, it could be in place in time for this summer's Barrie Pride parade.
