CalgaryNEXT Discussion pt. 2

[nik-]

Originally Posted by MattyC

The amateur field house will cater mostly to track and gym-based athletes. Most of them won't need more than a change of clothes and very little gear (balls, rackets, etc..).

Even football players don't really have much gear. It's pretty easy to carry in one hand with a small bag for clothes and shoes.

I disagree.

Carrying your bag on the C-train, regardless of how small you think it would be, would suck.

This catering to amateur sports is obviously way down on the list, which is fine, but we should be honest about it.

[Madman]

Originally Posted by nik-

I disagree.

Carrying your bag on the C-train, regardless of how small you think it would be, would suck.

This catering to amateur sports is obviously way down on the list, which is fine, but we should be honest about it.

I don't get it though - if a field house is built by McMahon, how do you think amateur athletes will get there?

[Coach]

Originally Posted by nik-

I disagree.

Carrying your bag on the C-train, regardless of how small you think it would be, would suck.

This catering to amateur sports is obviously way down on the list, which is fine, but we should be honest about it.

Lol. You realize students come from all over the city, on the train, with their gear currently right? It's not the headache you seem to think. The biggest headache would be for football players, and again, even their gear is not that cumbersome. A little annoying? Sure. The walk from the uni to McMahon probably takes longer than their ride on the train would. Plus, walking.

And wouldn't the Dinos be keeping their gear at the stadium anyways? Not sure how they work it now with McMahon, but I would suspect all their stuff is already stored there.

[morgin]

my favourite part is that apparently access to 9th ave from 14th street is no longer required.

[corporatejay]

Well, this is a step in the positive. As someone who has been staunchly against this if they are willing to front the CRL and secure the ticket tax now we're cooking with gas.

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Bad rendering or not, if the roof of the field-house is permanent, I think having grass roofs with fields on top would be pretty cool. If you've ever played/been on the SAIT field, it's amazing to be up there. Fantastic view of downtown, great field, all that stuff.

I remember seeing a similar thing in NYC when I was there.

Also, saw Ken King on Stephen Ave during my lunch break. Cool story bro.

That field bakes your nuts off though.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

That field bakes your nuts off though.

True. But you can't deny it's an awesome location, a good use of space, and fun to play on (minus the baking of course).

[cam_wmh]

Along with Manning & Hellard, some of the junkiest turf in town though.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Along with Manning & Hellard, some of the junkiest turf in town though.

Yeah I was going to say, real grass would probably help the heat problem, but don't know how feasible that would be.

I dunno, as a goalie, I liked the field. Despite getting covered in little chunks of black rubber, it was a lot nicer to dive and land than on the majority of the fields around town.

[powderjunkie]

Does the baking have more to do with the black 'chips' or whatever you would call them in the turf?

[powderjunkie]

edit: nevermind

[Kjesse]

Nicer renderings, that's for sure.

Two things that stick out for me, are first, they're proposing they will buy 9 shuttle busses to get people into and out of the arena? Are they serious? That is not a reasonable transportation plan.

Second, where will those who want to attend and drive, park.

This concept is not even half baked. I haven't really looked at their numbers but I'm not confident in them with what I've seen.

[Fire]

Originally Posted by Delgar

Second, where will those who want to attend and drive, park.

They will drive to a LRT station or downtown and take the C-train to the arena/stadium. Downtown will have numerous empty parking spots that exist after 5pm. Plus I'm sure you'll see a bunch of new private parking spots spring up around CalgaryNext.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Delgar

Nicer renderings, that's for sure.

Two things that stick out for me, are first, they're proposing they will buy 9 shuttle busses to get people into and out of the arena? Are they serious? That is not a reasonable transportation plan.

Second, where will those who want to attend and drive, park.

This concept is not even half baked. I haven't really looked at their numbers but I'm not confident in them with what I've seen.

It's best to look at the CalgaryNEXT proposals while severely intoxicated. It's far easier to get on-board by suspending all rationale thought that way.

Case in point - why only 9 shuttle buses? Would it not make more sense as a nice even number of 10 or would one additional bus cut into the budget too much? Perhaps they can also employ some sort of weather wizard to suspend sub zero winter temperatures while fans are waiting in line for extended periods of time to ride shoddy band-aid transit outside.

This is supposed to be a trans-formative project for the city...why the hell are we half arsing the transit/patron access to something you'd see at a second rate university venue?

[powderjunkie]

So basically the outcome is another report due back in October

[nik-]

wait ... shuttles?

[jammies]

I like how there are imaginary skyscrapers all around the rendered stadium/arena that will never ever be built there, presumably to make it so the giant complex look less out of place towering over the actuality of the neighbourhood. Although at least they apparently fired the guy who did the last set of renders using MS-Paint and found a guy who really knows his GIMP.

[Leeman4Gilmour]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

Case in point - why only 9 shuttle buses? Would it not make more sense as a nice even number of 10 or would one additional bus cut into the budget too much?

At this point in time, the number of busses would be roughly calculated using time to complete the route, time to load the shuttle, capacity of the shuttle, size of loading zone, etc. You want to be efficient as possible. Having a line of shuttles around the corner waiting to get into the loading zone or, conversely, having people waiting too long aren't ideal situations. Remember, it's at least 5 years away. They'll start with a system based on the calculations, then tweak (add/remove) with experience...

[Robbob]

I don't think the shuttles are a bad idea. Get the people to the core where people will either catch the redline to go south or go to a parking lot where they parked. If they keep the $2 evening parking at city lots it would help alleviate the parking issue for those that can't get into the 2500 spots they plan to have at the arena. If I had to I would park in one of the heated city lots downtown and take a shuttle after the game. Probably way more efficient then the current cluster that is stampede parking.

On a nice spring or fall day I world probably just walk as the distance to where CalgaryNext is slated to go is only a couple 100 meters more than the current walk from Vic station to the dome.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

From what I can recall

1) The cities report infrastructure cost including many optional things.

2) The Flames claim they have a consultant tell them that if they re mediate the land incrementally while they develop the land build CalgaryNEXT it will cost $50 million

One of the things that Bean said at the STH event a couple of weeks ago was that the city report basically budgeted to do the same work twice. For the clean-up costs, it includes the costs of cleaning the soil and returning the site to bare ground for construction. Then, the construction costs include going from the bare ground.

In reality, you would never do it that way. You'd dig up the contaminated soil, then put the building right into the hole you've already dug.

That's one of the sources of savings he mentioned.