Our Towns, Our City group starts up in Greater Sudbury

A new group in Sudbury wants to have a closer look at whether amalgamation is working in Greater Sudbury.

The Our Towns, Our City group is made up of40 community members.

Tom Price is a member of the group.

"Our group is dedicated to getting the public input, to make sure that the public is aware of where we're heading and secondly to steer the city in the direction where we can sustain our community," he said.

The City of Greater Sudbury was officially created in 2001, after the province put forward legislation to consolidate several municipalities in the province. The result in Sudbury meant seven towns and one city joined together to create the City of Greater Sudbury.

"After 20 years of amalgamation, any other corporation in the country would be reviewing what their operating plans are and whether we've accomplished what we set out to," Price said.

"That's all we're asking. We'd like to do that formally with the government that brought us into being, so if there are alternatives, we can capitalize on those alternatives and recognize some of the benefits."

Price says many feel amalgamation hasn't resulted in better services, including road conditions and snow removal.

"You can see a stark difference between provincial roads and city roads," he said.

Comparison needed

"The weather argument that the city uses is baloney."

Price says people need to only compare Sudbury's service levels with those of nearby towns to assess how well tax dollars are now being used.

"You can go to small towns. Snow removal, you can go to Espanola and they don't have snow banks on the sidewalks that prevent people from getting to the parking meters they clear that snow off," he said.

"They are a small community. You have to wonder what's wrong with our community that we have that problem."

Price says the group will be making a presentation to council at a later date.