Sunday, June 14, 2009
Abbotsford Sports Centre destruction/reconsruction
As frustrating as it was, it was no surprise to read that the taxpayers of Abbotsford are on the hook for an additional and unknown amount of money (?$million$?) for further construction at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre.
After all, the worth of council promises on costs were made clear as Plan A costs spiralled higher and higher, well beyond the promised “fixed” costs. Then there is the fact that the statement most appropriate for council’s behaviour on Plan A and financial matters is “They did not even have enough common sense to …”
As in: “They did not even have enough common sense to hustle up provincial and federal funds before funding the entire project themselves” or “They did not even have enough common sense to realize that 400 parking spots were totally inadequate for a 6,500 seat complex”.
So it is no surprise that, even though council is on record from their very first statements that the Arena would be home to a hockey team, they did not even have enough common sense to ensure that the dressing rooms were up to the standards required by any possible league an arena tenant could play in.
No, if you used common sense and ensured the dressing rooms were up to any potential league standards, you would not able to be jack hammering apart the Sports and Entertainment complex within a month of opening.
And why would anyone expect Mayor George Ferguson, council or city staff to have any idea of what this destruction/construction will cost? After all nobody ever accused them of having enough common sense to have an idea what things will cost before they start spending taxpayer’s money.
After all, the worth of council promises on costs were made clear as Plan A costs spiralled higher and higher, well beyond the promised “fixed” costs. Then there is the fact that the statement most appropriate for council’s behaviour on Plan A and financial matters is “They did not even have enough common sense to …”
As in: “They did not even have enough common sense to hustle up provincial and federal funds before funding the entire project themselves” or “They did not even have enough common sense to realize that 400 parking spots were totally inadequate for a 6,500 seat complex”.
So it is no surprise that, even though council is on record from their very first statements that the Arena would be home to a hockey team, they did not even have enough common sense to ensure that the dressing rooms were up to the standards required by any possible league an arena tenant could play in.
No, if you used common sense and ensured the dressing rooms were up to any potential league standards, you would not able to be jack hammering apart the Sports and Entertainment complex within a month of opening.
And why would anyone expect Mayor George Ferguson, council or city staff to have any idea of what this destruction/construction will cost? After all nobody ever accused them of having enough common sense to have an idea what things will cost before they start spending taxpayer’s money.
# posted by James W Breckenridge : 2:39 AM
