Plans to move the Mendel art gallery to river landing has struck a chord with residents.
After a CTV story aired Wednesday night, dozens of Saskatoon residents emailed in to make their voices heard. The overwhelming response revealed that the majority of viewers don't want the Mendel going anywhere.
In the CTV Saskatoon web poll, 70 per cent of responders said they didn't want the art gallery to move. And dozens more viewers emailed in to confirm that sentiment. It's quite a contrast to a survey commissioned by the Mendel Art Gallery, which showed 64 per cent of 600 respondents said they would like to see a new art gallery at River Landing.
CTV veiwers had a lot to say about the issue. Here are some of your comments.
"The Mendel should not be relocated; it should remain where it is with renovations made to the existing building." - Valerie Smith.
"600 people. I suppose that was a representative sample of people in Saskatoon. 64% of 600. What would that be as a proportion of the population of Saskatoon? Let's have a referendum. What is it about River Landing? What's wrong with the present location of the Mendel?" – Jan Jonsson.
"Why does the Mendel have to be closed or moved? I'm sure there will be enough draw for both galleries as they sound totally different." – Valerie Middleton.
"Thank you for taking an interest in this. Our city is spending too much money on new buildings such as this for no reason. The present gallery just needs to be run better and could use input from other small cities such as Victoria which has a small, vibrant gallery in an old building and is much used and loved." – Evelyn Fisher.
"A consultant's survey is about as "fixed" as it can be. I do not believe the false figures as I and dozens of citizens on my block alone opposed this action and expense. Leave the Mendel where it is and quit wasting tax dollars for crony contractor's wealth creation." – Harold Hansen.
"I find it strange that so much input from users went into designing the new children's hospital, yet only a few hundred opinions seem enough to approve a design for the new art gallery." – Lionel Florizone.
