Port development: What is New Dawn’s role?
“The community must take the lead in determining its own future.”
On March 28, 2011, hundreds of people gathered for a conversation hosted by New Dawn called “Hear and be Heard”. The purpose of that meeting was to discuss the greenfield site on the Sydney waterfront.
The Chair of New Dawn’s Board of Directors, Doug Lionais, spoke to why the question of ownership of the greenfield site on Sydney Harbour was (and is) important to New Dawn (a clue is in its vision statement: “A self-reliant people in a vibrant community”.)
“Self-reliance is about making decisions for ourselves and building relationships of mutual partnership — with federal and provincial governments, with the corporate world — on equal footing. A vibrant community is prosperous, not just in an economic sense, but is healthy, is sustainable, is happy, and contains multitudes,” he said.
“The community must take the lead in determining its own future.”
In 2012, CBRM council voted unanimously to purchase the greenfield site for $6 million and it continues to be a community-owned asset with municipal oversight.
