Heehee. This is like saying I NEED my Porsche cause its really fast and handles great. No, I NEED a car to get to work. I wanted a Porsche and could afford it.

There needs to be an actual business case to see if Moncton can afford what they want. Does the potential of 1-2 extra events per year generate enough revenue to justify the cost?

It sounds like what you guys really want is Harbour Station in Saint John. Harbour Station has I think 7100 seats today with the ability to add another 2000 or so by completing the West End. At the moment there are luxury boxes installed there but the capability to expand to around 9000 exists. Moncton probably needs something similar so they can grow is there is real demand.

I have never been in the Coliseum but saw some pictures from the interior. I can see why folks want it replaced so badly. Unfortunately the Feds wont contribute a cent as long as Harper is in power. The city may be wise to try and time things when they anticipate a new government taking over, though that could be a number of years.

If you build it, they will come! :)

Seriously, this will always be a bit of a mugs game. The Nova Centre in Halifax is being built partly on faith. Who knows what the convention business will be like in 20 years time. :shrug:

Harbour Station is a quality facility, no question about it. I think though, it would be cheaper and less disruptive just to go ahead and add the extra 2-3,000 seats right from the get go than at some nebulous point in the future. The Moncton events centre is also planned as a linchpin for future downtown development. It might give developers extra confidence to proceed with their plans if they knew exactly what they were getting in terms of the capabilities of the events centre.

The coliseum has served it's purpose, but is now well beyond it's best before date. The old lady needs a rest. :)

I tend to agree with you. The Harper government has made it loud and clear that it won't be funding hockey rinks. There are components to the facility however that might be candidates for federal funding, such as a transit hub or the possibility of a small convention facility. Also, the time frame for putting shovels in the ground might make the events centre an appealing target for election promises. We likely won't see anything happening until 2016, and I believe the next federal election is in 2015. Coincidence? ;)

I don't know why people are blaming Harper or the Conservatives, this has nothing to do with them. Money will not just appear because Harper is ousted. :rolleyes: North Americans will have to learn to live below our means but within our needs, but most people around here don't, so how can we expect our government to do the same...
In any event, time to spend, spend, spend is over, I don't think any new government will ever go back to the spending mode of the past. At all government levels, things have changed forever.

It's not so much that we are blaming Harper specifically, it's just that when the last stimulus program was being run a couple of years back, many communities had their hands out for new rinks and the program became oversubscribed. Even though municipalities like Gatineau and Moncton had fulfilled all the requirements for funding, the program was terminated and they were left high and dry.

At the same time, cities like Edmonton were looking for federal funding for their new NHL arenas. There was a big hulaballoo over funding for "professional" sports teams and the feds decided to cut their losses by simply stating that infrastructure funding was not intended for hockey rinks in general.

This of course is equivalent to a carpenter who thinks that all his carpentry needs can be solved with only a hammer. There are rinks, and then there are events centres which are far more than just a rink and which can serve as major sources of civic renewal and also as a major economic multiplier for their communities.

This is not a black and white issue, but unfortunately the current federal government treats it as such. It is possible that another federal administration at some point in the future might be a little more nuanced in its approach....

Overall, I agree with you. I have a point of difference, however, since I believe the Conservatives are to blame for on what they've spent their stimulus. Infrastructure to modernise Canada's cities would have been a better investment for creating economic growth than a series of hockey rinks, or even 'events' and 'convention' centres.

In Halifax, for instance, an investment in light rail transit and bus expansion would have been a smarter business decision than a convention centre that may or may not be successful in the near future (I agree with MonctonRad's skepticism about the Nova Centre). Public transit is absolutely needed now -- and in the short-term it creates an impressive number of jobs; and in the long-term it opens up development possibilities along the LRT line (transit oriented development), which often implies more high-rise buildings (and hence, even more jobs).

Increasingly, young people are not wanting/not able to purchase cars. Cities must improve public transit.

Government spending is an essential part to economic growth, since public spending deals with the success of the general consumer (which supports capitalism, broadly) while private companies focus on their own immediate profts even at the sacrifice of the consumer's finances, so government spending does need to continue. We simply have to prioritise our spending on smart growth -- growth that doesn't further add to our numerous forms of debt -- growth that will actually produce a financial return on its investment.

Any municipality that currently isn't seriously committing to inward urbanism is going to be struggling in subsequent decades. Even oil-rich Alberta is having debt issues from too much urban sprawl and rural growth -- all of which must be subsidised.

and once again we miss out on a major tour...KISS going to Saint John, Halifax, and Saint Johns...but hey, we're getting Hanson!

:(

The Events Center ridiculous saga continues...
 

Moncton's Events Center project has become a complete travesty. This travesty is being fueled by the egoistic untruths of Downtown Moncton Centre-ville Inc. Everyone, over the past several years, has been brainwashed into assuming that the ONLY possible place to build the Events Center was Highfield Square, nobody ever pointed out, until today, that HS is the worst possible place to invest huge amounts of money. The ultimate question is: Should our first priority be to worry about building any project simply because we want to patch-up and replace vacant Highfield Square? Or do we want to find the ideal location for the maximum benefit of the Sports and Entertainment Center itself? Both of these possibilities are mutually exclusive. An ideal location must have on-site parking for 3,500 vehicles and offer in years to come ample space for expansion. Read a truthful analysis at website www.totot.ca

Lower Coverdale?! Are you serious? One of the major selling points of this whole plan is to help you downtown and make Moncton not so drearily sprawl-dependant, and you're suggesting the events centre be put kilometres away from downtown on the other side of the river?

Not to mention that website has a list of "problems" with the Highfield Sq site that is so full of uneducated logical fallacies, I don't even know where to begin.

Highfield Square is the WORST possible place to build an Events Center. It is too small. An ideal location must have on-site parking for 3,500 vehicles, and have enough space for future expansion. Read this well made analysis. www.totot.ca

Moncton's population is completely zombied out about the Events Center. And who can blame them? There have been so many untruths written over the years that no one knows what the real facts are. This website has researched the truth, have a look at: www.totot.ca

I think someone has an agenda here..... :)

By and large, contributers to this site are urbanists who want to see vibrant and vital downtowns for their cities. This is why the events centre must be built downtown, to serve as a linchpin for future development.

Moncton has too much sprawl now. We need to follow sound planning practices. Building high schools near the Kent County boundary and events centres kilometers away from downtown on the opposite side of the river, (where only 15% of the CMA's population live) just won't cut it......

The Events Center doesn’t have to be on Main Street,
Taxpayers need truth-telling from the media but aren’t getting it; all they get is the same old lame story that will never come true. A new location is now available, the land will be owned by City of Moncton and no upfront money is needed. It truly is a signature destination called TROPICAL GARDENS.
Located only 8 km from central downtown Moncton. See it at::notacrook: www.totot.ca

Downtown will never find investors for such a mega project because anyone managing money knows the facts that you can read here: : http://www.eurasiareview.com/2306201...es-build-oped/

Another ridiculous myth is that a new building downtown will rejuvenate the downtown core. That’s exactly like an old woman buying a new hat thinking that wearing this new hat will turn her into an attractive desirable twenty year old. Unfortunately for her, she will always be an old lady with a new hat. Ask yourself if an aging downtown can regain the blush of youth by adding one new building?

Of primary importance, the new location that is proposed for the new Events Center requires ZERO cash payment to buy the land. This is an immediate saving for the City of $15 million in 2013. This new location can be leased by The City for 25 years, and at the end of the lease, the City holds an exclusive option to buy the land for just $1.00, yes, that’s correct, one dollar. Why couldn’t City of Moncton own a large piece of land outside the city limits, especially if it’s practically for free? The advantages are that this new location has much future expansion possibilities, it is close-by and it offers 3,500 spaces of on-site parking.

You do realize that the long term costs of placing the event centre that far away from the core, combined with the loss in tax revenue, would outweigh getting land for "free"?

"""that far away from the core""" WOW, last time I looked 8 kilometers was less than 5 miles, do you consider that FAR AWAY? What you seem to deny is simply that the Events Center will not be financed nor built by people on this forum. The people who will finance such a huge project will want to avoid major mistakes like being cramped in a teeny weeny space with no expansion possibility in years to come, and they will not invest one cent of there is not sufficient on-site parking.
Assuming the project costs only $100 million, the monthly payback to the bank for this amount, at the very low interest rate of 6% for 25 years, will be $1 million per month, or $34,000 per day, each day for 25 years. This does not include cost of operating the Center, insurance, employees, electricity and heating, property taxes, etc.

It's not the site that is too small; it's your thinking that is.

Cities build vertically, dear.

If an events centre is built it will be in the downtown -- not Lower Coverdale. :) This city has experienced quite enough sprawl (and car dependency). For the long-term prosperity of the city's economy, we must begin committing to inward urbanism.

According to every sustainable urban planning textbook: Your proposal is a total joke.

Don't feed the troll, guys. :order:

Anyone proposing an events centre 8km from downtown either has an agenda or enjoys the reactions on forums.

Or suffers from Royal Oaks Syndrome.

And I see that Carrie Underwood performed last night in SJ at Harbour Station but skipped performing at the Coliseum..... :(

The Events Centre need to be built soon, before Moncton's reputation for mid sized indoor concerts really begins to suffer!!

That is a terrible analogy that brilliantly demonstrates that you have no idea what you're talking about.