Your other projects are all things that need/should be done, yes. And I understand your issue of "forcing" the budget, but IMO, at least the Crowhild interchange and Creosote are long overdue. Whatever helps them get done is a plus in my books.
And yes it is up to you to decide the priorities. You're a citizen of the city. You can lobby your council person until you're blue in the face abotu anything you want.
Ya, I tried that. They still insist paving nose hill and closing all the bike trails is a good idea
Bettman doesn't understand Albertans. If he did - or his advisors did - he'd realize that rejecting the "expertise" of Easterners is fundamental to the Alberta identity.
He did this in Edmonton around the time Katz was pulling his Seattle meetings stunt. It backfired in Edmonton and isn't going well in Calgary.
That being said, Nenshi blew this. He could have tilted the scales heavily in the City's favour by attending the meeting (even if he posted the exact same tweet after the meeting). Nenshi is elected to be the City's representative. The majority of the City wants to have discussions on the arena. How those discussions end up is still undecided, but people want the discussions.
Instead of being the City's representative, Nenshi presents as a petulant know it all who is going to tell Calgarians what is important to them (aka, a Harper/Redford/Prentice/Notley on-high style of leadership). That doesn't work here.
If you take Ken King at his word, this (CalgaryNEXT) is the only plan the Flames are considering, even as almost everyone besides them acknowledges the current plan is a debacle. I don't get what a token appearance at a meeting that wasn't going to discuss anything new was going to accomplish. Until we start hearing from King and the Flames that "Yeah, we're willing to consider other options", what is there really to talk about? How crappy their amateur hour renderings were?
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Bettman doesn't understand Albertans. If he did - or his advisors did - he'd realize that rejecting the "expertise" of Easterners is fundamental to the Alberta identity.
He did this in Edmonton around the time Katz was pulling his Seattle meetings stunt. It backfired in Edmonton and isn't going well in Calgary.
That being said, Nenshi blew this. He could have tilted the scales heavily in the City's favour by attending the meeting (even if he posted the exact same tweet after the meeting). Nenshi is elected to be the City's representative. The majority of the City wants to have discussions on the arena. How those discussions end up is still undecided, but people want the discussions.
Instead of being the City's representative, Nenshi presents as a petulant know it all who is going to tell Calgarians what is important to them (aka, a Harper/Redford/Prentice/Notley on-high style of leadership). That doesn't work here.
In reality, the only thing Bettman sought to accomplish was him asking for a meeting with Nenshi, Nenshi saying no, because why should he meet with him when nothing has been proposed and he isnt apart of the process, and then spouting on the radio that he would be so happy to meet and blah blah so it looks like Nenshi is being the dink.
It seems to have worked on some of you.
I would love to speak to Nenshi about a lot of things. The fact that he doesn't want to talk to me doesn't make him any less of a mayor. Just because Bettman represents a business with a franchise in Calgary doesn't mean Nenshi has to meet him.
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I would love to speak to Nenshi about a lot of things. The fact that he doesn't want to talk to me doesn't make him any less of a mayor. Just because Bettman represents a business with a franchise in Calgary doesn't mean Nenshi has to meet him.
Nenshi meets with a lot of people having incomparably lower business and influence stature than Bettman. I thought that not giving Bettman the time of the day was aggravating and deliberate on his part. Commenting further about "rich people from New York" was also bad. I watched Bettman's CBC interview in the evening news and Bettman's comments were a lot more reserved, professional and diplomatic than Nenshi's.
To be clear, I labelled CalgaryNEXT proposal terrible from the very beginning, so I am not supporting Bettman's pitch. Nenshi should have used the opportunity to meet with Bettman to discuss some of the concerns and, perhaps, other possibilities of cooperation.
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Nenshi meets with a lot of people having incomparably lower business and influence stature than Bettman. I thought that not giving Bettman the time of the day was aggravating and deliberate on his part. Commenting further about "rich people from New York" was also bad. I watched Bettman's CBC interview in the evening news and Bettman's comments were a lot more reserved, professional and diplomatic than Nenshi's.
To be clear, I labelled CalgaryNEXT proposal terrible from the very beginning, so I am not supporting Bettman's pitch. Nenshi should have used the opportunity to meet with Bettman to discuss some of the concerns and, perhaps, other possibilities of cooperation.
It's true, he meets with many different people with many different plans and motives. It sounds like he has already met with Bettman on this issue before (from what he said in the scrum).
But Bettman isn't a party to the negotiation. He does not have authority to bind the Flames to anything, he is not an agent to the Flames in a legal sense. The only people that can truly negotiate and consult with Nenshi over the project is CSE. Bettman is no more than a mouth piece with little sway on either side.
No doubt Nenshi will/has raised concerns and discussed other possibilities with the Flames, so I think he was right in saying if you don't have anything new, then don't was your (and my) time.
Like most have said, the comment in the scrum might have been a bit over the top, but that's Nenshi, and some (the majority) like it. Especially considering Bettman's comments over the past two days have not been well received!
In reality, the only thing Bettman sought to accomplish was him asking for a meeting with Nenshi, Nenshi saying no, because why should he meet with him when nothing has been proposed and he isnt apart of the process, and then spouting on the radio that he would be so happy to meet and blah blah so it looks like Nenshi is being the dink.
It seems to have worked on some of you.
I would love to speak to Nenshi about a lot of things. The fact that he doesn't want to talk to me doesn't make him any less of a mayor. Just because Bettman represents a business with a franchise in Calgary doesn't mean Nenshi has to meet him.
@DruhFarrell City has received no formal proposal from #calgaryNEXT. We did, however, receive a short letter. Review of site has been at City's expense.
@DruhFarrell It's a first for me, a request (demand) for hundreds of millions of public $ with no business case, background, or proposal.
Imagine an agent calls Brad Treliving. Tells him about a kid in Russia who can play hockey. Won't say how old the kid is or even if he plays forward or goalie. But the kid is good. World class. He points to how good Washington is. Washington has a talented Russian. He demands Calgary give the kid the same money Ovechkin gets. When Treliving asks for more information—maybe some video or statistics—the agent holds a press conference to say that the GM of the Calgary Flames knows nothing about hockey and their team is doomed.
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A random musing that crossed my mind while listening to Bettman yesterday:
Could we all agree that these new stadiums are revenue generators not just for the individual franchises, but the NHL overall (increase prices, capacity, demand, merch sales, etc..)? Should/could there not be a fund that owners stock away to pitch to these types of projects?
Obviously, the fundamental ideals of the owners overall would reject this idea as much as any type of revenue sharing, but couldn't it be included somehow?
I'm not sure what you find offensive or threatening in that letter. At worst it's fluff.
It's offensive that they are asking for funding something based on these types of proposals/letters lacking in any real data or overall substance. The letter is the equivalent or "It sounds cool! We hope you consider it!"
Consider what? We consider that there is a project in the works, that Calgary overall would like to see happen. Now where is the raw data about how you plan on doing this?
It's offensive that they are asking for funding something based on these types of proposals/letters lacking in any real data or overall substance. The letter is the equivalent or "It sounds cool! We hope you consider it!"
Consider what? We consider that there is a project in the works, that Calgary overall would like to see happen. Now where is the raw data about how you plan on doing this?
Maybe in the formal process he's asking for? Municipal planning always goes from concept to the municipality saying what data and studies they need, then a back and forth between the applicant and the planning department. You don't make the approach with a full study etc. That's a huge waste of money.
It's offensive that they are asking for funding something based on these types of proposals/letters lacking in any real data or overall substance. The letter is the equivalent or "It sounds cool! We hope you consider it!"
They aren't asking for funding in the letter. They are asking for a conversation and trying to figure out who they need to have that with.
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I wish both sides would stop fighitng the public battle - and just figure out a mutually beneficial solution.
I don't care about a "mutually beneficial solution" if I'm a taxpayer. I care about Nenshi as my elected representative actually representing my interests and not paying for something that they can pay for themselves.
The solution is for the Flames to finance their arena like how they did in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto. To pay for it themselves. That's the solution. There is no negotiating or bargaining around that basic hard truth.
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