Publish Day - Ink Blog - Stinky sewage plant plans

Something smells in the land of London. I was clear across the continent when I wrote this, but through the wonders of wireless Internet access, I was able to remote-file from the lobby of a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building.

Life is sweet sometimes. Unlike the topic of this missive.

Sewage plant plans need more study
Published Wednesday, March 1, 2006
The London Free Press

Any business owner knows that it costs money to make money. But investing in the future is a tricky game that has more questions than answers: How much should be invested? How fast should it be spent? Will it drive profitability enough to justify the outlay?

It’s a conundrum that London currently faces as it debates plans to build a new sewage treatment plant for the city’s southwest end.

On the one hand, we need to spend the $134 million on the plant and related services to support continued growth. This is how London competes against other cities for new investment.

On the other hand, we can’t spend ourselves into a debt-created fiscal prison.

The fact that so little is currently known about the returns suggests that city employees should be spending a little more time with their spreadsheets. Londoners deserve to know the full fiscal picture.

If businesses of all size follow the investment-return model, is it too much to ask that our city does the same?

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Your turn: Does your city's management of projects like this cause your blood pressure to rise? What is it about Frank Lloyd Wright that makes me think of sewage?