Ken King is a silver tongued corporate grifter. Yes he is the front man for the Flames ownership group & the city has a responsibility to structure the conditions to develop an entertainment district for civic benefit, not optimal corporate benefit.
They get one shot to do this right.
Obviously the city's "vision" or control of the district does not align with the Flames. Ken's statements yesterday are obviously a power play for the Flames own worship to have more control over the arena & entertainment district development.
Ken & the owners have little interest in understanding community development & apparently less interest in adhering to the process challenges any land developer faces with a project of this magnitude.
Ken's brother Rick King was no different when he pontificated about developing land outside of Saskatoon 6 years ago.
https://issuu.com/ccgazette/docs/20110915-complete
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Quote:
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King said too often regulations unduly restrict development. "That's not free enterprise," he said, "let the developers spend their millions of dollars and let the free enterprise system pick out the best developments."
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The "free enterprise system" he references is the management of public trust & public investment. Ultimately developers of his ilk want to utilize the public to externalize any & every risk or cost in their pursuit of optimal profit.
Burke is also ignorant to the challenges of municipal development. He said earlier this year that he was shocked the City didn't thank them for CalgaryNext.
Even Richard Peddie, former CEO of MLSE, said the Flames need to bring more to the table.
https://m.soundcloud.com/invisiblecitypodcast/ep006
(23:51 - 26:47).