COLLINS – Honouring departed loved ones just got more expensive
(Image: CFJC)
IT’S NOTHING NEW but it’s still uncomfortable, for me at least, to put a monetary value on your loved ones. How much is my mom and dad’s memory worth?
The city has been wrestling with the issue of memorial park benches and trees. Apparently, we aren’t paying enough to remember, so the city is going to help us out and charge more.
Council last month approved a significant hike in the cost to put up a memorial bench or a nice tree. It’s a nice way to get the taxpayers to foot the bill for new landscaping in the city. The city wants you to pay $4,000 for a nice bench and $1,500 for a tree.
You can also buy a “used” bench, in place but unsponsored for somewhat less. These would all have a little plaque on them with the name of the deceased.
But if I can assume these trees and benches are needed anyway, really the cost should be the cost of the plaque. Nothing else. Surely the city wouldn’t be putting in benches or trees just to satisfy demand for these memorials.
And now you’ll be able to buy a picnic table. For $8,000. Oh, here’s another kicker. You have a time limit for your memorial. Your $4,000 donation for a bench is only good for 10 years. Then you can renew it for another 10 years or opt out.
Doug Collins has had a wide background in the broadcast industry, having done virtually every type of news and sports broadcasting, including news anchor, sports play-by-play, and editorialist. His “One Man’s Opinion” aired on TV from 1973- 2013. He retired from his management roles in the station in October, 2018, but continues to write his column. In 2019, Doug was awarded the Freedom of the City.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
I find this appalling, it’s nothing more than a cash grab from a money strapped administration who can’t balance the books. Has anyone really looked at some of these bench placements, there’s little to no thought in the placement. The Riverside park trail which connects to Pioneer park is full of benches placed directly in front of a wall of weeds/bush, there is no view! It’s shameful for the memory of the deceased, no one EVER sits in many of these benches as the brush is literally 3 feet in front of your face, you can’t even see the water.
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Its unfortunate that for those people who feel this is an important way of memorialization of their loved ones, it has been monetized as obviously as a Nike swatch on a stadium or a Credit Union icon on an ice rink.
The City has gone full Facebook and Google ‘cash in on anything that moves or is bolted down to make revenue’ on this … without the slightest nod to the somber and purposeful original concept behind the idea.
Even though I’m not personally interested in putting a plaque on a bench for myself or anyone in my family, and in my mind its an odd form of memorialization … I support those who want to do it.
Gouging the cost in the way they have – especially coughing up another $4K in 10 years (or whatever future Council decide they can dig for) or risk the City ripping off grandmas name from her favourite river viewing spot, is nothing but fully intentioned; ‘its all about the cash’.
There is no other way to read that.
Your family? Not so important it seems.
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