Thursday, August 27, 2009
Will Anyone Say No?
--Mayor Stephen Mandel
Emphasis mine.
Two new articles on the proposed downtown arena appeared today, one by Graham Hicks of the Edmonton Sun, the other by Gordon Kent of the Edmonton Journal. Both emphasize the fact that the mayor and his arena "feasibility" committee would still like taxpayers to foot the bill, despite consistent and overwhelming evidence that it's not in the best interests of taxpayers to do so, as well as recent polling that shows that 76% of Edmontonians do not wish to have their tax dollars used in this fashion. The fact that the mayor and his committee continue to ignore the evidence and the will of the electorate on this issue isn't terribly surprising. They've been doing so for almost three years now. What is so baffling is the fact that no one else on City Council has stood up and loudly proclaimed their opposition to the idea. The idea makes no sense economically or, as the polling suggests, politically. It's an idea disliked by people on both the left and the right of the political spectrum. So where are the champions of both common sense and the people? Is anyone on council going to have the courage to make this their issue, and say this is a bad idea? As one of those 76%, I certainly hope so.
p.s. For those who have asked, yes I coming back, and yes, I will be writing hockey-related Oilers content again, and soon.
p.p.s. Confirmation that the Katz Group has indeed purchased the land around the Baccarat Casino.
p.p.p.s Another story in today's (Friday's) Journal. Uses a lot of the stuff from the Kent article above.
***Saturday update***
Another story, focusing on the Community Revitalization Levy (CRL).
Labels: New Arena
# posted by andy grabia @ 8:38 pm 
Comments:
p.s. For those who have asked, yes I coming back, and yes, I will be writing hockey-related Oilers content again, and soon.
So long as you drag Fenwick with you!
Not to say we're not glad to have you back, mind you. Just that, y'know, the Battle of Alberta is much more awesome when it's a Battle and not just of Alberta.
(Trying really hard not to be That Commenting Guy Who Bitches About The Lack Of Posts here. I'm enthusiastic! Really!)
No, it's fair. We know. I know for myself I've just had other stuff on the go. Plus, why waste resources on a bad product?
Woohoo!...for the return of BoA, not for politicians blatantly serving the interests of the politically connected.
The new article I posted today makes me nuts. Anyone else wanna dismantle it before I do? I could use the break, to be honest.
Thrilled to see that BOA will be back with an honest-to-God Oilers blogger on board. Between all the Edmonton boys disappearing from BOA and Covered in Oil taking an indefinite ganja break, I was pretty bummed out on the state of the Oilogosphere. Welcome back, Andy -- you were missed. Yeah, the Oilers may still suck, but we can manage to have fun with the situation.
The new article I posted today makes me nuts. Anyone else wanna dismantle it before I do? I could use the break, to be honest.
One post and you're already tuckered out?
Anyhoo, I thought this line from the "unnamed source" in the Journal piece was rich:
"This is not just about a hockey team or an arena. The city's need to revitalize the core creates this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and a development like this only works if you have the kind of anchor tenant that an arena can provide."
Yeah, I have no idea how every other major city in the world with a thriving downtown did so without an arena to anchor it. That this stuff can continue to flow forth unchallenged despite the weight of academic evidence is just sad.
Woo hoo. Glad to hear you're back Grabia.
The Oilers are really off the rails right now so I hope you're ready to get cranky.
The Oilers are really off the rails right now so I hope you're ready to get cranky.
I really don't know how anyone could do otherwise, given the situation. Matt and I might just end up fighting over who hates the Oilers more.
Good lord, will God please strike dead the next local reporter that uses the word "revitalize" more than a dozen times in a story?
Mike Winters you need to revitalize your attitude I think.
A new arena is exactly what Edmonton needs to revitalize its downtown core.
Revitalize.
Plus they should build a monorail.
The thing is, the Oliver-GMCC-City Hall patch isn't even the part of downtown that most needs a massive municipal intervention to tart it up, even if it were remotely certain to work.
Cosh: you're probably thinking the bit on the east side of 97th would be a bit more dire? I trotted that out before myself, but was told that neck of the woods is too dirty and crime ridden to be a good candidate for revitalization. Seriously.
Turns out you can only "revitalize" a neighbourhood that's already pretty orderly and supplied with lots of retail and housing. Who knew? The arenaphiles spent all that time taking literary snapshots of north-central Edmonton through the windows of their Lexi, but the actual project won't make a damn bit of difference in any of the problem areas. Given the LRT route, which approaches from the north on 106th St and runs east-west through Oliver & MacEwan before deflecting south, I'm not sure the rink will even do anything for retail business on 101st St north of the Baccarat. That's probably the direction the inevitably unsightly, graffiti-tagged ass of the arena will be facing.
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p.s. For those who have asked, yes I coming back, and yes, I will be writing hockey-related Oilers content again, and soon.
So long as you drag Fenwick with you!
Not to say we're not glad to have you back, mind you. Just that, y'know, the Battle of Alberta is much more awesome when it's a Battle and not just of Alberta.
(Trying really hard not to be That Commenting Guy Who Bitches About The Lack Of Posts here. I'm enthusiastic! Really!)
No, it's fair. We know. I know for myself I've just had other stuff on the go. Plus, why waste resources on a bad product?
Woohoo!...for the return of BoA, not for politicians blatantly serving the interests of the politically connected.
The new article I posted today makes me nuts. Anyone else wanna dismantle it before I do? I could use the break, to be honest.
Thrilled to see that BOA will be back with an honest-to-God Oilers blogger on board. Between all the Edmonton boys disappearing from BOA and Covered in Oil taking an indefinite ganja break, I was pretty bummed out on the state of the Oilogosphere. Welcome back, Andy -- you were missed. Yeah, the Oilers may still suck, but we can manage to have fun with the situation.
The new article I posted today makes me nuts. Anyone else wanna dismantle it before I do? I could use the break, to be honest.
One post and you're already tuckered out?
Anyhoo, I thought this line from the "unnamed source" in the Journal piece was rich:
"This is not just about a hockey team or an arena. The city's need to revitalize the core creates this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and a development like this only works if you have the kind of anchor tenant that an arena can provide."
Yeah, I have no idea how every other major city in the world with a thriving downtown did so without an arena to anchor it. That this stuff can continue to flow forth unchallenged despite the weight of academic evidence is just sad.
Woo hoo. Glad to hear you're back Grabia.
The Oilers are really off the rails right now so I hope you're ready to get cranky.
The Oilers are really off the rails right now so I hope you're ready to get cranky.
I really don't know how anyone could do otherwise, given the situation. Matt and I might just end up fighting over who hates the Oilers more.
Good lord, will God please strike dead the next local reporter that uses the word "revitalize" more than a dozen times in a story?
Mike Winters you need to revitalize your attitude I think.
A new arena is exactly what Edmonton needs to revitalize its downtown core.
Revitalize.
Plus they should build a monorail.
The thing is, the Oliver-GMCC-City Hall patch isn't even the part of downtown that most needs a massive municipal intervention to tart it up, even if it were remotely certain to work.
Cosh: you're probably thinking the bit on the east side of 97th would be a bit more dire? I trotted that out before myself, but was told that neck of the woods is too dirty and crime ridden to be a good candidate for revitalization. Seriously.
Turns out you can only "revitalize" a neighbourhood that's already pretty orderly and supplied with lots of retail and housing. Who knew? The arenaphiles spent all that time taking literary snapshots of north-central Edmonton through the windows of their Lexi, but the actual project won't make a damn bit of difference in any of the problem areas. Given the LRT route, which approaches from the north on 106th St and runs east-west through Oliver & MacEwan before deflecting south, I'm not sure the rink will even do anything for retail business on 101st St north of the Baccarat. That's probably the direction the inevitably unsightly, graffiti-tagged ass of the arena will be facing.
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