Motion seeks to kill arena
By Jordan Press
Local News - Saturday, February 17, 2007 Updated @ 11:35:33 PM
The fate of the new downtown arena is in doubt, although construction has been
underway since the fall.
A motion to cancel the project, which will be before city council for a vote on
Tuesday night, comes on the heels of an announcement that work on the centre
will cost $4.3 million more than its budgeted amount. That would place the price
tag at $46.1 million.
“Every day we delay [cancelling], it’s more expensive to say that’s enough.
Tuesday is the day,” said Councillor Vicki Schmolka, who proposed the motion.
“We’re in the red on confidence on this project.”
The motion calls for staff to “stop the project now, and negotiate the
termination of all contracts associated with the project.”
Staff would also look at what materials could be sold or used elsewhere, and see
if the $4 million the province pledged to the project could be redirected to
work on the west-end multiplex.
In November, staff estimated the costs of cancellation could be about $13.4
million. In a memorandum to councillors, staff said most of the money would have
to come from the taxes.
“That was politically motivated crap,” said Councillor Bill Glover, who seconded
Schmolka’s motion.
Glover said council needs to have a debate on the project’s future and can’t
delay any longer.
Mayor Harvey Rosen said he found the motion “Disney-esque.”
“It’s fantasy,” he said.
Taxpayers would be left on the hook for the costs of cancellation, he said.
The city, Rosen said, would have spent money on the project “and we would have
nothing for it. It boggles the mind.”
Though already approved, the arena was a major election issue in November,
although the two mayoralty candidates who were opposed to the current plan were
defeated by Rosen.
However, several of the councillors who won election voiced their concern
throughout the campaign about the project’s cost and future.
jpress@thewhig.com