Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunk
After thinking about it much of the day after attending the announcement, here are my thoughts on what we saw today:
Great post
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Thanks. I basically agree with everything in this post.
I want to emphasize that risk is a very real thing. I'm not sure why we're so willing to take on 490M+ of risk for a private entity so readily. I know that according to Jay Random, a nuke would have to hit Calgary before the risk is realized, but I truly think it's something to consider.
The fact of the matter is, the CS&E have all the upside, and the City of Calgary/Taxpayers absorb ALL of the downside in the current deal. The only thing that the City of Calgary gets is that we get an awesome addition to the skyline and a revitalized area.
I want West Village to be developed, but I'd go as far as to say that the City/Province should go ahead and clean up the area, and CS&E should fund and operate the entire facility (the entire 890M) as per their design, and pay the appropriate property tax, rather than making the city liable for anything. A "city owned asset" is a BAD thing in this case, considering most facilities like this are approximately break even operationally (as previously noted, the Saddledome Foundation made a profit of 1.5M in 2010-2011).