[Torture]

I hate the one week consultation period - just reeks of used car salesman and pressure tactics. I get the argument of not consulting to death but seriously, a week? Why not two, or a month at least? Council is supposed to make a decision on how to spend almost $300M in a complex deal in a week? That's ridiculous. I've hummed and hawed about whether I should buy things from Amazon for less than $100 for longer than a week!

I don't mind the deal overall but I think it could have been better as IMO it's still pretty Flames-slanted. I would have preferred to see more public benefit (either a higher % of naming or ticket tax, or for the Flames to own the building for instance, or a firmer commitment to the community arena).
I don't really buy that the $75M over 35 years is new money. I think there's a small case for benefit from spurring redevelopment in an area the City clearly has plans for but we all know about displacement if we've been listening to any economists so I don't buy that it's significant.

So overall, I think it's close, but I would prefer to see the city participate a bit more in the upside for $275M.

And one more thing, every time somebody says that the Flames are going to leave Calgary without a deal (or without a deal made in a week) I get firmer in my resolve that the city should see more benefits or not contribute at all.

Oh and just for the record, I don't live in a trailer and I happen to have an education.