CalgaryNEXT
Aug. 19th, 2015 11:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jamesqCalgaryNext is the proposal to use land in Calgary's West Village (between 14th street and Pumphouse Road) for a new sports arena complex. That complex will be the new home of the Flames, Stampeders, Roughnecks, and Hitmen.
I like the vision of this plan. I think this sort of complex is something the city could really use. Replacing McMahon stadium is long overdue, and a case could be made for the Saddledome as well. CalgaryNext, as an idea, is a good one.
But the presentation, and assumptions suck. Councilor Farrell describes the problems with financing here. Basically they low-balls the costs, ignore all the infrastructure required, and only describes the positives. The whole website comes off as a shady timeshare presentation writ large.
I've had marketers blow smoke up my ass enough times to recognize when it's happening, and it's happening now. This will not cost $900M, it will cost at least $1.5B. And aside from $200M, that money is going to be from tax dollars. For an example of what I mean, the cleanup cost for the land is estimated at between $50M and $300M. When people say that, they mean $300M. Note that the Creosote cleanup is absolutely necessary to using that land, and it's not factored into the cost. What possible reason could you have to not include that in the cost?
Now I have no problem with taxes being levied for things we need. And I have a very liberal idea of need compared to most people. If CalgaryNEXT was up front with the true costs, instead of the lowest of all estimates, I'd probably be for it. It's not like that $1.5B is being used in an arcane ritual where we burn the money and a an arena magically appears. That money is going to be pumped into the local economy. It's going to be used to pay for materials, it's going to be used to pay people to build it. That means several years of steady work for a lot of trades. That means families are going to be supported and those people will be paying taxes. Money for capital projects means we get the capital project, and the economy gets a welcome boost.
But does it have to be this project? This project is basically facilities for a bunch of for-profit businesses (some of which are very profitable). Can't they afford to make this themselves? If they can't do it themselves and still be profitable, do they deserve to stay in business? I appreciate that sports are popular, but if we were talking about building a bunch of office towers for a handful of oil companies, would we be so gung-ho about it? OK, bad example, this is Calgary, we'd totally be up for giving an office tower to an oil company.
I also hate the design. I'm no engineer, but I know that whenever anyone in this climate tries to build a stadium with a roof that does anything but be a roof, it fails. Calgary's freeze/thaw cycle will play merry hell on that transparent roof. I expect it to leak like hell. I'd much rather they had a well-engineered roof that can support twice the weight of the snow that's going to get dumped on it every year. Maybe cover the whole thing with solar panels to make it more green. It really doesn't need to be transparent.
I'd love there to be development on that chunk of land, and I think a stadium complex is a good fit for the area. But they really need to do more homework:
I like the vision of this plan. I think this sort of complex is something the city could really use. Replacing McMahon stadium is long overdue, and a case could be made for the Saddledome as well. CalgaryNext, as an idea, is a good one.
But the presentation, and assumptions suck. Councilor Farrell describes the problems with financing here. Basically they low-balls the costs, ignore all the infrastructure required, and only describes the positives. The whole website comes off as a shady timeshare presentation writ large.
I've had marketers blow smoke up my ass enough times to recognize when it's happening, and it's happening now. This will not cost $900M, it will cost at least $1.5B. And aside from $200M, that money is going to be from tax dollars. For an example of what I mean, the cleanup cost for the land is estimated at between $50M and $300M. When people say that, they mean $300M. Note that the Creosote cleanup is absolutely necessary to using that land, and it's not factored into the cost. What possible reason could you have to not include that in the cost?
Now I have no problem with taxes being levied for things we need. And I have a very liberal idea of need compared to most people. If CalgaryNEXT was up front with the true costs, instead of the lowest of all estimates, I'd probably be for it. It's not like that $1.5B is being used in an arcane ritual where we burn the money and a an arena magically appears. That money is going to be pumped into the local economy. It's going to be used to pay for materials, it's going to be used to pay people to build it. That means several years of steady work for a lot of trades. That means families are going to be supported and those people will be paying taxes. Money for capital projects means we get the capital project, and the economy gets a welcome boost.
But does it have to be this project? This project is basically facilities for a bunch of for-profit businesses (some of which are very profitable). Can't they afford to make this themselves? If they can't do it themselves and still be profitable, do they deserve to stay in business? I appreciate that sports are popular, but if we were talking about building a bunch of office towers for a handful of oil companies, would we be so gung-ho about it? OK, bad example, this is Calgary, we'd totally be up for giving an office tower to an oil company.
I also hate the design. I'm no engineer, but I know that whenever anyone in this climate tries to build a stadium with a roof that does anything but be a roof, it fails. Calgary's freeze/thaw cycle will play merry hell on that transparent roof. I expect it to leak like hell. I'd much rather they had a well-engineered roof that can support twice the weight of the snow that's going to get dumped on it every year. Maybe cover the whole thing with solar panels to make it more green. It really doesn't need to be transparent.
I'd love there to be development on that chunk of land, and I think a stadium complex is a good fit for the area. But they really need to do more homework:
- Redesign a more conservative complex - one that is tried and true for our climate.
- Give us a better estimate for the true cost of this endeavor, including cleanup costs, and all of the necessary infrastructure improvements.
- The Flames and the Stamps need to pony up a greater percentage of the costs. I don't expect them to pay for the whole thing, but they need to do more.
