I have barely posted anything with regards to this project.
All I can say at this point, is that I went from being "Super Duper Excited" to "screw it, perhaps the Saddledome isn't all that bad... new paint will suffice".
One thing I have to say is that I believe this would have gone over much better if Hotchkiss was alive. Maybe I am just being naive. After all, the rich get richer for a reason. However, everything I ever read about Hotchkiss made me believe he was a real humanitarian, and he seemed to always do his best to do 'good' in this world. I think that this project would have been a legacy project for the ownership group to leave their mark on the city, and perhaps create a bit of real history. Perhaps a stadium/arena complex that perhaps would have turned into something special not just with a shelf-life of 20 years, but something that nobody wants to tear down like some of the great stadiums of the world with history.
Maybe it still will be. I just don't like how it is being 'sold' to everyone. It sure feels like someone is trying to pull the wool over our eyes, while sneaking into our back-pocket. Not saying they are, but that is just how it has been feeling. I think they should have either commissioned a better rendering, or not had any at all and explained to the public that the project is in its' infancy and it would be foolhardy and perhaps deceitful to offer a real rendering when they obviously don't know what it will really look like at this point, but just how they want it all to function. It was a let-down. I don't need to see an extremely simple design, but I sure as heck need more details about everything. Maybe I am naive, but I am no simpleton.
I was so excited. I am so apathetic now.
The only thing I really hope happens is for the area to finally undergo a proper cleanup, not another patch that hopefully will work long-term this time. Clean up that area - this is our home, and our home shouldn't have a toxic waste dump. I don't care if no development happens in that area - just clean it up.
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