The City of North Vancouver's central waterfront plan won't please everyone.
History buffs may not want a ferris wheel. Families may not have an interest in a shiny new pub. Arts groups may have no need for a skating rink and the young people flocking to the burgeoning Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood may not want to spend their spare time in the new museum and archives.
But this is the plan's strength. There is something in it for everyone. It's also what seems to be hampering its ability to get buy-in from council.
The city's paid marketing consultant, in his parting advice to council members, told them to endorse the plan in its entirety or risk losing the whole thing - and that's exactly what they didn't do.
In response to this call for unity, council displayed just how disjointed and dysfunctional it could be, bickering over semantics and narrow aspects of the plan not to one councillor or another's individual liking and getting bogged down in a late-night procedural mess.
In 2012, council fought petulantly over the temporary beach volleyball nets that now draw people down to the site that was previously a fenced-off scar on the waterfront.
Of course there are big questions about where the money will come from and lingering logistical concerns, but this is why council has expert staff to advise them.
The Shipyards has staggering potential that other municipalities could only dream of. Let's not squander this opportunity by only catering to the most cantankerous among us.
