After hearing Ken King speak he seems to not understand or at least mix up the difference between finance & economics. He makes it sound like the Flames ARE the economy of the city and THEY are the one's doing the poor municipal government a favour by contributing "at all" to the glorious arena the city will receive.
He speaks like the community revitalize this facility will enhance is redeveloping an industrial park full of meth labs.
It's in a highly desirable area near downtown & transit where municipal resources have been accumulated and planned for decades with this purpose (entertainment district) in mind.
It's nonsense. They think fans & citizens are stupid. Maybe we are?
The organization's behaviour is astounding. The fact that they kicked off all this discussion with their hissy fit, statement of "non-pursuit" of a deal makes them look terrible. It's the first lesson of public policy, do it behind closed doors in private, like making sausage. Do not let anyone watch. Upfront transparency of any deal with the city is not in their favour, they should have known that, and now they've forced the city's hand.
But he speaks of their patience because they began this process in 2005 or 2006. Give me a break. They want control and/or recourses to maximize profit. No different than any other developer, who I trust to look after the public interest as much as I trust my dog to watch over a T-bone steak dinner.
If anything, I've only learned that Ken King needs to retire & take his silver tongued glad handing to pursuits where it doesn't make him come off sounding like a used car salesman.
The notion of property taxes as cost recovery for the building being reported by the media is stupid & absurd. Everything depreciates & requires ongoing resources for operation & maintenance.
Hearing people discuss this topic on the Fan960, who I thought were reasonably intelligent, has left me dissapinted.
It's worse than the lockout.
They need to just stop talking altogether. Hearing Eric Duhatschek talk about a general survey of asking people he knows in Edmonton if the arena deal has affected their pocket book is just sad, stupid, silly, & pathetic. Knowing nothing of the City of Calgary & Edmonton infrastructure I know that every piece of infrastructure has a life cycle. I imagine both cities have a plan for managing their infrastructure funding deficits & replacement requirements. The problem is that infrastructure replacement is non-linear and hard to predict in the event of extreme weather events.
What happens when an infrastructure failure and/or collapse occurs and the municipal budget is tight? What happens if this problem becomes common?
This is where people feel the financial impact of a stadium. $200 million dollars goes a long way towards infrastructure that ACTUALLY matters to an economy. While an arena is culturally important & significant, and I support some municipal support, it is either an economic burden or insignificant.
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