Mike Boone suggests in today’s Gazette that part of the plans for using new space at Park and Pine should include a statue of Robert Bourassa, because he thinks the man still needs to be honoured in this city:

I know. Our revered mayor doesn’t deserve a consolation prize for the ham-handed and ultimately aborted plan to rename Park Ave. But the controversy shouldn’t obscure the fact that Bourassa was a brilliant politician and visionary premier who deserves some substantial form of commemoration.

This is true, but in a rare moment of stupidity on the part of the Boonester, his suggestion would do nothing but guarantee that the controversy obscures the commemoration. People won’t remember the statue without thinking about why it’s there, and this is a controversy that Bourassa never asked for and doesn’t deserve. Let’s find somewhere else on the island, not on Park Avenue, to honour this man.

Either that, or at least wait a while so the two aren’t so closely connected.