BKIslandersFan
F*** off
Could mean nothing if it’s derailed by lawsuits.Today was the actually vote on it. It passed 11-4 in favor.
Could mean nothing if it’s derailed by lawsuits.Today was the actually vote on it. It passed 11-4 in favor.
Could mean nothing if it’s derailed by lawsuits.
Yeah it will be interesting to see if any person or group decide to take legal action and on what grounds.
Is there actually a minimum period of public engagement required? If a week is legally too short, one would think the threat would have been made before the vote.
My understanding, if the council wanted to rescind this deal, it would have to be a 75% super majority. So 12 out of 15, an 8 vote swing from today so not too likely.
At the end of the day, I'm glad a decision was made and not punted down the road again. I think it's a good deal for both parties after this long process.
Local business near key arena economically went down when the Sonics left. Oh btw The soincs leave did force the issue about actually getting a much better building. And its all 100% private cause those were the terms Seattle set from the start. The reason why the sonics left cause the 95 renovations went cheap.
Nenshi says Calgarians angry over arena deal can have their say ... in 2021
Mayor dismissed concerns over the tight approval timeline, saying arena has been debated for years
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi says if citizens aren't happy with a deal to pay for half of a new home for the Flames, they can register their discontent come election time.
"Ultimately, especially on an issue like this where the public is so split, we really do have to rely on our elected officials to just make a decision," he told the Calgary Eyeopener on Wednesday. "And, you know, in 2021 we have the ultimate plebiscite."
[...]
On Wednesday, the mayor said opponents to the new deal "needed to find a hook on which to oppose it" when questioned about the tight deadline for council to approve. One of those opponents outside of council is the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation. That organization's Alberta director says council has set aside more time for Calgarians to learn about smaller issues.
"You have potential changes to smoking and vaping bylaw, you have a bike sharing pilot program — both of these are relatively small initiatives that received greater scrutiny than a $300 million deal," said Franco Terrazzano. "I mean, people take more time to decide what type of dog or what kind of cat they are going to bring home than Calgary councillors allowed for public scrutiny."
all said and done, it seems like a good win for the city and the price seems fair.Very good news ... great deal for our city ... as a property tax payer I see this as something worth paying for ... very excited !!!!
Awful deal for Calgarians. Announced the same day as $60M in cuts to the City's operating budget this year. Funding for police services, fire department, public transit, public libraries, low-income housing, Heritage Park, Fort Calgary, the science centre, the convention centre and the zoo will be cut, two public pools and a (previously announced) golf course will be closed, and 115 people will be fired.
I mean raw material costs are nuts in every industry right now, if they had the foresight of covid happening they would not be on city council, they would be millionaires on a beach trading stocks lol
I wonder if someone messed with the numbers to sell the deal to council and taxpayers (Edit: I just got an e-mail from a project management friend of mine agreeing with this guess). Council, for one, definitely did not think this one through or even ensure we were going to get our money back. Something Edmonton really had going to for it when building their arena was that they had things like a realistic ticket tax (I think Edmonton's is 6% compared with Calgary's paltry 2%) to help recover the investment.$550M was aggressively low even before COVID. The Oilers arena cost ~ $625M and it was finished 7ish years before the Flames arena was planned to finish. Even if the scope was smaller than Edmonton's, inflation alone would push the price up to similar levels.
$550M didn't hold up to the eyeball test as soon as that was signed. I mean you can do it, but it's going to be as bare bones as it gets when held up against other new NHL facilities.
I wonder if someone messed with the numbers to sell the deal to council and taxpayers (Edit: I just got an e-mail from a project management friend of mine agreeing with this guess).
I heard CSEC want the City to pony up another $50M-$100M, and want CMLC (Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, the City-owned developer) booted off the project so that CSEC can hire someone to manage it to their liking.
EDIT: Hahahaha...
CSEC asks for additional $70M and more land for arena deal: Sources
CSEC asks for additional $70M and more land for arena deal: Sources
Development on the city's new event centre, which is expected to be the new home of the Calgary Flames, has been paused over a discrepancy over the budget for the project, officials have confirmed to CTV News.
The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC), along with its partners with the City of Calgary, provided an update on the progress of the project planning at a closed-door meeting of council on April 13.
At that meeting, the CMLC said "there is a difference in the current budget estimate and the program requirements for the facility."
There is no official statement about what the differences could be, but sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations, who is not permitted to speak publicly about the details, tells CTV News that the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC) requested:
- An additional $70 million
- The CMLC removed as a project manager
- More land allocated for the project
- Control over traffic around the new rink
I hope the city up gives more to this project ... knock the country's and world's socks off with this project .... our city needs to go for the gusto on this one ... we are down but not out .... transform our downtown with more signature and iconic architecture that carries our brand like the Saddledome Stampede and Rocky mountains do .... think big brothers and sisters ....
Edmonton's arena only cost $480 million so there is no reason to believe Calgary wouldn't have been able to build a great arena for $550 million if they had actually started construction by this point...and we hadn't seen a significant increase in steel prices recently (linked to Covid?). The additional $124 million for Edmonton's arena project (total $604 million) breaks down as follows:
$56.5 million for the Winter Garden
$25 million for the land
$43 million for the pedestrian corridor, LRT and community rink
To the best of my knowledge, there will be no pedway, Winter Garden-type area, or community rink involved with Calgary's new arena. I'm not sure if the Flames $550 million arena proposal included acquisition of land or if the land was given at no cost...or if there is any additional costs associated with rapid transit that are included in the arena cost.
Anyways, a $70 million increase vs. Edmonton's new arena seemed reasonable until the recent surge in material costs.