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Originally Posted by Enoch Root
No I wasn't assembling a straw man, I was replying to posters who made an extreme (and inaccurate) claim. You however, are creating a straw man by attempting to impose parameters on this discussion that don't yet exist.
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I'm reasonably sure the discussion exists, because we are speaking in it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
Um, no.
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I'm also reasonably sure that you don't want to speculate because your position - that the City should be looking at "helping" the Flames with the arena - relies on a completely specious counter-factual of there somehow being a downside to not committing public funds. So, when pressed to detail exactly what might happen, you'd rather say nothing and continue to try to obfuscate.
Is this not you?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
I wasn't suggesting they should move it out of town. I was suggesting that the option of having alternatives should be enough to wake city hall up.
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(emphasis added)
Wake city hall up? They haven't received any proposal yet, so what are they "waking up" to? When you speak of "alternatives", are you not referring to the Flames putting pressure on the City by pretending they will move somewhere else - be that Balzac or Seattle - to pry forth some dollars? Is this not the discussion you say doesn't exit, that is, whether or not it is justified to spend taxpayer money subsidizing a business that needs no subsidization?
All your talk about the value of the franchise to the city IS a straw man, as you are implicitly claiming that somehow we are in peril of losing the franchise should the City not step up with cash or land or some other kind of preferential treatment. This is ridiculous. The Flames are, apparently, 7th in the league in revenues. They are not going to jeopardize that over a spat with City Hall.
These are businessmen, not jilted teenagers - they won't take their toys and go home if they don't get what they want, they will look at other ways of spending someone else's money (like financing paid for by upping ticket prices) to build their arena. If City Hall wants in on building something for sports, let's spend that money on new indoor soccer facilities or community rinks, not a palace where I can sit for 2 or 3 hours drinking beer.