Re: City of Nanaimo pulls out of SquareOne lease, April 11.
Conceived with good intentions and then allowed to languish, SquareOne never had a chance in the great struggle for resources. In the end it did what it could to generate money in any way. A vicious spiral exacerbated by city politics obviated the real solution – a strong reorganization and investment of funds to bring it up to tech incubator status. That never happened.
How many more jobs could be created, how much of a tech-based strategy could be outlined for the city if we invested the small amount of $1 million dollars (the amount spent for the events centre proposal and referendum), and had the political savoir faire to make SquareOne a true tech incubator hub? How many more bright tech kids would see Nanaimo as a place to set up shop?
While the world marches into a future where digital technology and purchase of new ideas dominate how markets are made and won, Nanaimo’s economy, based largely on real estate, is a shaky foundation and certainly not one for younger families.
The new economy has two destinies – either control your own future with a vibrant plan for new technology, or be dragged and kicked by new technology into the future constantly playing a losing game of catch up.
Many of the youth of my generation never made Nanaimo a home – they graduated from VIU and are now to be found in Asia, Silicon Valley, London… lack of a technology-based strategy and closing of SquareOne in particular guarantees their continued migration.
Yes, we are more than a little frustrated.
Rod Szasz, Nanaimo