Based on this editorial in the Journal, I think we can ascertain two things about the "proposed" downtown arena.
1) It is going to cost over a billion dollars. What else can be expected, when "city staff estimate that doing typical entryways with landscaping and new green signs would cost about $600,000"?
2) It's going to look like the Fortress of Solitude. We'll all enjoy its "dangerousness," though, whatever the f**k that means.
Shoot me now.
Sorry, what do welcome signs have to do with the arena? I haven't heard of anyone holding a design competition for the new arena.
ReplyDeletethis is why i love edmonton!!! nothing gets built without a controversy. if this were calgary, those ugly things would be built and a big flaming c hanging off the end of them before the public even knew what was going on. mind you the average calgarian reads at a third grade level and still thinks a first round playoff loss equals a stanley cup.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't it look more like the BatCave?
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of anyone holding a design competition for the new arena.
ReplyDeleteNot yet, but when they do, you can bet the winning design will be at least two of the following:
1) Pedestrian.
2) Square.
3) Brick.
I'd love to see them get Zaha Hadid or Will Alsop to do it. Both had submissions in for the new AAG, but lost to the Frank Gehry knockoff. (Actually, Hadid's design was the jury's choice but they ended up being overruled.)
does it have seats? check.
ReplyDeletedoes it have beer? check.
does it have plenty of urinals? check.
i really don't see what's so hard about designing a hockey arena.
So what do you do?
ReplyDeleteOh yeah I write blogs too
No I haven't read your blog
'Cos you guys are pretty new
But if you dig on Schadenfreude
Well, come over to my rink
I'll have McGeough call something bad
That you'll really love
(sorry)
From what I've heard, the new arena has already been designed. There's a scale model somewhere at city hall.(Katz's presentation to the EIG had sketches of the arena entrance). The land has been allocated and the builder chosen. I'm not sure if there's anything left to put up for competition.
ReplyDeleteWho said anything about a competition? I certainly didn't. My point was, a) it will cost a ridiculous amount, because apparently even putting up a wood "City of Champions" sign with some flowers around it cost 600k and b) it will be glass and crystalline, because everything else in this city is. I'm surprise we aren't all moving around the city in glass tubes at this point.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I just didn't see the connection between the two stories.
ReplyDeleteTangentially, I actually like the new welcome signs, if only because it's thematically fitting that the first thing visitors see as they enter the city is something they could theoretically be stabbed with.
"moving around the city in glass tubes at this point."
ReplyDeleteHow cool would that be?
I'm all for it, although you may need to borrow some glass from Souray.
Now get on with it Andy!
Andy - You didn't, but Mr Stortini-fingers above raised the question.
ReplyDelete"I haven't heard of anyone holding a design competition for the new arena."
Ya, but Dave actually dresses like a Bohemian, so what does he know?
ReplyDeleteTangentially, I actually like the new welcome signs, if only because it's thematically fitting that the first thing visitors see as they enter the city is something they could theoretically be stabbed with.
Good point. It also makes me think of that piece of the Statue of Liberty jutting out in Planet of the Apes. Someday Charlton Heston's gonna see that thing on a beach and just start screaming his head off.
There really isn't a connection. I'm just mad at every single thing the city does nowadays. Can't afford to have 24 hour transit, but we can spend millions on urban beaches and shards of glass? I never thought I'd say this, but can we have Jan Reimer back, please?
will this effect snow removal on my street? how about the fire works display on canada day? no. build away!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIn the head or chest?
ReplyDeleteIt seems anyone can win a City of Edmonton design competition
ReplyDeleteAs long as your name is [former alderman] Gene Dub.
Buy his new book
“The Dub Guide to Winning City Design Competitions”
Furthermore
I refuse to believe that $600,000 acrylic stalactites provide a better
"Welcome to Edmonton"
than a similarly overpriced
“Red Ribbon of Come on In”
i think nothing says 'City of Champs' more than a big sparkle-y crystalline wang.
ReplyDeleteand if it's super shiny, folks from the city to the south might be attracted to it's shinyness and drive right into the pointy end.
C'mon. Tell me you wouldn't shit your pants with glee if the new arena looked like the Fortress of Solitude. Then the Oilers' nickname could be "Justice League of Alberta". Kryptonite green colored beer glasses. Red and blue uniforms. The owner as Bruce Wayne/Batman.
ReplyDeleteJeezuz man! Endless possibilities.
It's Alberta man - things cost a ridiculous amount....it cost Spruce Grove $11mil to build a few outdoor football fields next to the Tri leisure (it "only" cost about $40 mil 6 years ago for the entire complex) - it costs millions to put in a water line FFS's. We might be better off coming up with a modular designed arena and having it built in Saskatchewan and trucked over in pieces.
ReplyDeleteC'mon. Tell me you wouldn't shit your pants with glee if the new arena looked like the Fortress of Solitude. Then the Oilers' nickname could be "Justice League of Alberta". Kryptonite green colored beer glasses. Red and blue uniforms. The owner as Bruce Wayne/Batman.
ReplyDeleteUm, the Justice League did not reside at the Fortress of Solitude. That was Superman's abode. Perhaps you are thinking of the Secret Sanctuary, the Satellite, or the Watchtower? Or maybe you are thinking of the Hall of Justice, home to the Superfriends?
Please get your comic book analogies correct on this site. Katz cannot be Bruce Wayne. Wayne is not a recluse. He's a playboy millionaire who seeks the spotlight, so as to distract people from connecting him to the Man-Bat.
And yes, I am a giant nerd. But this stuff cannot stand, man. :)
There's always one nerd who takes canon just a little bit too seriously.
ReplyDeleteI guess it would be sacrosanct to mix 'em up on such a nerd's blog though.
However, I would say that the darker (Micheal Keaton) movie versions of Batman portrayed Bruce Wayne alot like Katz. Huge house, philanthropist, somewhat reclusive. I know Katz is out and about. Just not in the public circles we're used to - i.e. Boston Pizza. ;)
That Burton movie also had Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent. Cmon now.
ReplyDelete"That Burton movie also had Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent."
ReplyDelete*sigh*...True.