New Poll on Arena issue

[calgaryblood]

Random question but who gets the revenue from parking fees at Flames games?

[Jiggy]

KK just said on the radio they would never threaten to leave. He also said he feels they have been baited on trying to say that.

[calgaryblood]

So Ken King isn't taking the gang to Seattle? Much classier than Katz and company.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

Random question but who gets the revenue from parking fees at Flames games?

I believe it goes to the Calgary Stampede.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by Jbo

Take my tax money. Seriously.

I would much rather my taxes go toward something like this then a) Bike lanes b) public art c) Bridges d) Library e) hell even snow removal.

Grammar nazi time:

Your use of 'then' instead of 'than' means you want bike lanes, public art, bridges, library, and snow removal after the arena, not that you don't want them, and since we already have them it means you want double.

As for 'than', if you cut out bike lanes, public art, bridges and a year's worth of snow removal you don't even get to a quarter of what the Flames want from the city for CalgaryNEXT. If you take out the Central Library you're still about $50M short.

So fork over more tax money, cheapskate!

[flambers]

Originally Posted by Jiggy

KK just said on the radio they would never threaten to leave. He also said he feels they have been baited on trying to say that.

You missed the last part....

He said once the City makes a decision, the Flames will make their decision

He also said CalgaryNEXT is not dead

[Fuzzy14]

heave

Seeing as you feel it's important to critique other people's grammar, are you implying that we will be throwing this with great energy?
Just Checking.

[KingMoo]

I think Calgary's NEXT mayor will be the one to decide if it is dead or alive....

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy14

Seeing as you feel it's important to critique other people's grammar, are you implying that we will be throwing this with great energy?
Just Checking.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by KingMoo

I think Calgary's NEXT mayor will be the one to decide if it is dead or alive....

No, the council will decide.....

[calgaryblood]

It's always satisfying when someone becomes a grammar nazi and than makes a mistake. Than we can all laugh and point at they're misfortune.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by IamNotKenKing

While I know you are being hyperbolic, I can tell you with absolute certainty that is not the fact.

almost as hyperbolic as "Nenshi should feel ashamed of spreading FAKE NEWS:"?

I mean come on now... no one is going to take 'emails and phone calls' to his office as the metric for what the majority of Calgarians feel...

I am confused however... can anyone show me where Nenshi has said that zero public funds are going to be spent on a new arena? His objection has been to the CalgaryNext (ie west end) proposal specifically as far as i can tell...

his exact words:

“But, the thing about a new arena project is that our first criteria has always been public money for public benefit, so it really is up to the Calgary Sports and Entertainment (Corp.) to figure out what the public benefit is,” the mayor continued.

seems to be a reasonable thought out position in my opinion

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Jiggy

KK just said on the radio they would never threaten to leave. He also said he feels they have been baited on trying to say that.

That's funny, because I just heard him say "if the people here decide they don't need the team in this city..."

Sure sounds like an implied threat to me.

The whole interview was condescending, smug, and frankly dishonest.

He complains about how far Edmonton is ahead of Calgary with their new arena for the Oilers. Whose fault is that? The Flames could have been opening a new arena this year if that's what they wanted. The owners have the money. The only thing stopping them has been a desire to spend less of their own money on their private facility.

And that was another doozy. King had the gall to say that Calgary needs this 'public' facility and the Flames are willing to contribute towards it. A facility owned by the Flames will not be a public facility. Calling it that is completely dishonest.

I'm not a fan of Nenshi. But if that's the kind of smug, deceptive, and self-serving dialog they're getting from the Flames, them I'm glad he's putting up a confrontational front.

Oh, and I know they're just sports reporters, and they have a vested interest in keeping the Flames and Ken King happy. But that was one of the most craven, soft-pedalled interviews I've heard. So many important and obvious questions they could have asked. Instead it sounded like it was conducted by PR flacks for the Flames rather than journalists.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by oldschoolcalgary

almost as hyperbolic as "Nenshi should feel ashamed of spreading FAKE NEWS:"?

If Nenshi actually did say ‘99.999997 percent’, that was hyperbolic and fake news.

That number means that only 1 in 33,333,333 calls and emails have not expressed disapproval of the project. I would be staggered if the city had received 33 million comments on the topic, and still more so if only one of them was in favour of public money for an arena.

Of course the mayor is a politician and therefore a liar. But I find it dismaying that people still lap up his lies when he does not even take any trouble to make them plausible.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

And that was another doozy. King had the gall to say that Calgary needs this 'public' facility and the Flames are willing to contribute towards it. A facility owned by the Flames will not be a public facility. Calling it that is completely dishonest.

The thing is that it is only in the Flames interest if the city owns it. They don't want to be on the hook for the property taxes and if the city owns it they can keep peddling the 'public facility' crap. A public facility they want the full management and operating license to for less than they'd have to pay if they owned it.

Then when it's time for a new building they can repeat the process and the city is left with something valueless without significant investment (see: Saddledome).

[oldschoolcalgary]

right... because whenever someone drops the "99.99999 %" meme, people are going to believe that number as being accurate...

if Nenshi said 99% of the callers said that, would that be better somehow?

I didn't consider that part "news" at all... sorry if you guys did...

[Calgary4LIfe]

I have scanned this thread (and others) and I really have a bone to pick with people throwing out "world class".

I wanted (and still want) a world class arena/stadium that CalgaryNEXT was SUPPOSED to be. I wanted something beautiful, and in Ken King's own words, "Transformational". I think the Calgary skyline is world class - beautiful, compact, and looking better every 10 years.

Does CalgaryNEXT, however, do a thing to make this city "World Class"? What is the definition of world class? Maybe it would add to it... but only slightly.

A world class city to me is a city with good jobs, a good standard of living, that looks nice, with enough things to do, has great educational opportunities for both young and old alike, is safe, isn't hampered with too much pollution and too much congestion, and where people enjoy living.

Sure, Calgary is (without question) not at the same level as a New York, or a London (though I dislike London personally, but whatever), etc., but it is a world class area to live in.

A very large reason behind it is that this city is not run by fools who will throw money at something like a CalgaryNEXT, providing benefit really only to the stakeholders of CalgaryNEXT, while gouging the tax payers (many of whom will never set foot in the building).

This city should continue to spend money on the right infrastructure to continue pushing Calgary towards 'world class', ensuring that its' citizens have enough social programs and continue to ensure that this city is a good place to live.

CalgaryNEXT will have very little bearing on the majority of Calgarians. I would love to have a truly unique and 'transformational' building like CalgaryNEXT where the world will (somewhat, sometimes, and for a very brief period) take notice of. I am sure that the finished product would have been absolutely breathtaking to look at... but at what cost?

There are so many families just struggling to keep their heads above water, struggling to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. The last thing these families need is for some rich billionaires to come in, and use their valuable tax money to help make them richer. Sorry for sounding all "NDP-ish", call me a socialist, etc., but there are a lot of people who are struggling in this city.

I am all for the city investing in a new arena - especially if it is tied-into an Olympic bid (and if that bid makes sense and will at least help pay for a large percentage of new much needed infrastructure for this city), but it has to be an investment, NOT a handout.

Not a single dollar should go out as a handout. The owners want to make millions - that is their right in this country. They should not be making it with public funds. If they want public funds, then they have to open the conversation up as something different - a partnership in which this building generates revenue for the City of Calgary.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by oldschoolcalgary

right... because whenever someone drops the "99.99999 %" meme, people are going to believe that number as being accurate...

if Nenshi said 99% of the callers said that, would that be better somehow?

I didn't consider that part "news" at all... sorry if you guys did...

If Nenshi is going to throw out any numbers at all, the onus is on him to reveal the actual data. The number he did give was obviously made up, and has no connection with reality. He merely intended it as a way of supporting his talking points, but it is such an obvious falsehood that it gives no support at all.

So how about he just shuts up about specific numbers unless he has specific data that he wants to make public?

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

I am all for the city investing in a new arena - especially if it is tied-into an Olympic bid (and if that bid makes sense and will at least help pay for a large percentage of new much needed infrastructure for this city), but it has to be an investment, NOT a handout.

So you're against throwing away hundreds of millions on an arena, but in favour of throwing away billions (possibly tens of billions) on the Olympics?

It sounds as if your problem with CalgaryNEXT is that it was not wasteful enough.

[HotHotHeat]

Originally Posted by Jiggy

KK just said on the radio they would never threaten to leave. He also said he feels they have been baited on trying to say that.

If this is what you took away from that propaganda session then you listened only to what you wanted to hear. King was nothing short of Trumpian on a number of topics. He outright encouraged supporters of CalgaryNext to 'agitate' the people of Calgary to ensure their voice was heard. He then implied that the people against the Flames getting public money are in the minortiy, they're just louder. THEN he threw out "we're big boys, if people don't want us here, tell us, we can handle it". Not sure how that is anything but a passive aggressive threat to leave.

As if that wasn't enough, he didn't forget to spend time pleading for sympathy for the owners, not just because they're "really good people", but because they're job creators.

The only thing worse than the crap coming from King's mouth was the complete lack of accountability from Pat and Rob.