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Originally Posted by Weitz
The big difference here is "revitalization" is a much tougher sell here in Calgary as we already have a great downtown. It was much easier to sell it in Edmonton where their downtown couldn't hold our jockstrap.
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Yep. A lot of North American cities that build arenas are in economic decline, or have blighted neighbourhoods they're desperate to develop. That's not the case in Calgary. This is a booming city. Private development is going to happen without huge incentives from the municipality. So a major tactic of sports franchises looking for funding simply won't work in Calgary.
Quote:
Originally Posted by heep223
Ok but Nenshi is 1 member of council. Also quoted from other council members as follows. Though clearly the majority opinion on the 15 person council is that in general, tax dollars should not be used to fund private enterprise.
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City council is unanimous in not wanting to spend public dollars on a hockey arena. Given how hard it is to get even two-thirds of councilors to agree on anything, that should tell us all we need to know about public opinion.
There are a couple councilors who might be willing to trade public land (Colley-Urquhart principally). But I don't see them as being willing to go to war for the Flames. There just aren't any votes in it. Apparently the councilors all got an earful from constituents after Burke made his comments to the chamber of commerce.