Halifax Stadium Discussion

[halifaxboyns]

It was approved to move forward with Phase 2 by COW.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but Hensbee made the best point and echoed what I've been saying all along: Public infrastructure costs public money and many if not all facilities will cost us money to run.

Thank you god for someone getting it.

[q12]

Awesome!

[TheNovaScotian]

AAAHHH no sweeter words have ever been um well typed, man that's a relief

[Wishblade]

Awesome news!

Now, do you know who voted against it so we can know who to vote out next election?

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

It was approved to move forward with Phase 2 by COW.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but Hensbee made the best point and echoed what I've been saying all along: Public infrastructure costs public money and many if not all facilities will cost us money to run.

Thank you god for someone getting it.

Thank you for the update. That is certainly a relief. Do you know what the overall vote was?

I am looking forward to seeing some real renderings. (I will have to wait a few months though). I think the open houses for the phase 2 study will be better attended, especially if they start developing definite stadium plans.

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by Wishblade

Awesome news!

Now, do you know who voted against it so we can know who to vote out next election?

It wasn't done as a recorded vote - it was a yay or nay vote. I can tell you that Councillor Sloane voted yay to proceed - but she has a very booming voice, so you always know how she voted. That's not meant as a snarky remark, I have a booming voice too so I'm never misunderstood lol. =)

[Empire]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I have been avoiding posting in this thread because of the (occasionally) toxic atmosphere, but I am amused by the frequent references to Moncton over the last 3-4 pages.....

Regarding the U2 concert. The venue is great. It is a natural amphitheatre. Granted, it is on the edge of town and transit to and from the site can be problematic, but there are virtues to this type of location as well. For one thing, the field was destroyed by 75,000 pairs of feet within 90 minutes of the start of the concert. Can you imagine the howls of outrage from the "Friends of the Commons" if this had happened in Halifax! (BTW, Halifax had twice as much rain on the date of the concert as Moncton did).

The concert site will need to be reseeded and will not recover until the fall or next spring. This would not be tolerated on the Commons, but it matters less in a field on the edge of town.

Now that HRM is well on its way to getting a major stadium allow me to continue with my audit of the Magnetic Hill site.

As I have mentioned I was not at all impressed with the site as shown below:


Rating out of 10:

Empire's opinion:

Accessibility 1
Layout and amenities 0
Directives and sinage 0
Viewing angles 2
Reason to stay more than one day 0
Security and safety issues addressed 0
Distance from Halifax 0
Walking to hotels 0

The misnomer of ampitheatre for this site has been used many times. There is a slight grade down to the stage which may actually work against the site. In photo 1 the stage is blocked by a concert goers head. In photo 2 if girl 1 is applied to the shoulders of guy 1 the stage is blocked completely. Maybe the stage should be at the high end of the site?

Photo 1 by Empire


Photo 2 by Empire

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Wishblade

Awesome news!

Now, do you know who voted against it so we can know who to vote out next election?

According to Bousquet at the Coast those voting against were Rankin, Johns, Adams, Watts, Barkhouse and McCroskey.

Surprised by Adams and Johns being against. Watts and Barkhouse just need to go away.

[WestEndHali]

Oh man Empire, Magnetic Hill is a good venue despite your biases. Granted I didn't go to the U2 concert, but I did however attend the Stones, Eagles and AC/DC concerts. Let me post an audit from an experienced concert goer's point of view..

Accessibility 8 - granted it is a far distance from city centre but I've yet to have any real obstacles in getting there.
Layout and amenities 5 - my real problem is with the beer tents, its a gong show , but there are tons of johnny on the spots and 0 wait time. (garrison grounds is always the opposite)
Directives and signage 9 - simple: one way in, one way out...
Viewing angles 7 - unless you're under 5' 5" you can find a decent spot.
Reason to stay more than one day 5 - I like Moncton, but I wouldn't stay for more than 2 days.
Security and safety issues addressed 7 -with 70,000+ people its hard to address every concern, but the medical tents are clearly marked
Distance from Halifax 1 - I'd rather watch these shows from a newly built 25,000 + seat stadium here in Halifax
Walking to hotels 0 - My biggest complaint about the site. Mountain rd has to be longer than Yonge st, or at least it feels that way when youre drunk and can't catch a cab or bus to save your souls...

[q12]

http://www.halifaxnewsnet.ca/Blog-Article/b/20437/Ricks-Rants-Tuesday-August-9th2011

Rick's Rants
[Professional Blog] Rick's Rants Tuesday August 9th/2011

Mayor Kelly is confident the study will go ahead."I think it would be irresponsible if we don't complete this," he told me this morning. "Phase two will provide us the information we need to make an informed decision." The mayor also says a 10,000 seat stadium, as recommended by the citizen's committee, is "too small." He prefers a professionally-sized stadium, "at least 25,000. We can't sell ourselves short." He's glad MacKay's keen on the idea, calling his continuing support for a stadium, "a strong indicator" of federal willingness to participate.

He can't say the same for the universities, especially Saint Mary's. Kelly suggests there's an ulterior motive to SMU's opposition, as expressed through Councillor Sue Uteck, to a stadium located at Shannon Park or Burnside. He says if the city's stadium plans fall through, the alternative is fixing up Huskies Stadium. "Should the bigger project fail," the mayor told, "the bridesmaid becomes the bride." The mayor says there are some big problems with expanding the university's stadium like parking, traffic congestion, and limited development space. Kelly again says he has had conversations with a couple of groups about private sector involvement in the stadium, but neither he nor they are prepared to go public with anything yet. "They want information," Kelly says, "size, cost, design." The very issues phase two will reveal.

[icetea93]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

Thank you for the update. That is certainly a relief. Do you know what the overall vote was?

I am looking forward to seeing some real renderings. (I will have to wait a few months though). I think the open houses for the phase 2 study will be better attended, especially if they start developing definite stadium plans.

The overall vote was 16-6

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by icetea93

The overall vote was 16-6

Thankfully they took a week to think it over. It might have been different if the vote was held last week.

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

Thankfully they took a week to think it over. It might have been different if the vote was held last week.

From what I remember of the discussion (I had it on in the background at work while I was working on something) Johns and Adams were on the fence and said they weren't sure (one of those, I'll know when I vote) kind of deals. That's fine, some people can't be sure of things - it's a lot of information.

Rankin was firmly in the no column, as were the rest. But I have to give Wile kudos for such a passionate speech in support of going forward.

I find the discussion on the Mayor's facebook feed quite funny - because all those who are in opposition are like don't build it because of the cost. So a couple of us have been chiming up about splitting costs in a p3 arrangement, corporate sponsorship and other things. My comment about shutting down everything that doesn't make money went over like a brick through a window - I think I shocked some people lol.

[roccerfeller]

Excellent news Halifax....


So what's the timeline on a potential Stadium being approved the way we all would like?


By December this study is presented again then...what?



Also somewhat related, but IF this manages to go through and IF its built in the eyes of the mayor and what many of you are suggesting, and further IF it was fit for a CFL expansion franchise, who would be a potential owner?

Good luck/bonne chance

[halifaxboyns]

To soon to answer the CFL question - although I suspect that Ken Rowe with IMP could be persuaded to get in on it to advertise Canjet.

The CBC had an article about the stadium and Nova Centre on tonight's news cast @ 6. Visit www.cbc.ca/ns - the video feed is there.

[ATL Stadium]

I'm very pleased and excited to hear the outcome of the vote. I know there is still many questions to be answered in this next step that could persuade those that voted against the motion to become "yes" votes. I know the cost and funding issue is key for council!

For many of us that read and post here, we know the stadium proposal is too small (and the Mayor knows this as well); but at the very least it becomes a means to an end. What I'm saying is the 10,000 seats with potential 10,000 temporary seating could become....10,000 seat with another 15,000 permanent added later! Making a CFL or Pro Soccer a possible sell. Design would of course be an extremely important feature to enable that to happen correctly.

I think all of the things that we have dreamed about are doable with a 10,000 seat stadium planned correctly! A good location, ease of access, ability to expand for even larger events, concessions, luxury boxes, a partial roof or canopy for bad weather keeping fans buying tickets.....it can all be done!

ATLANTIC STADIUM ~ Atlantic Storm ~ RIDE the WAVE ~

[ATL Stadium]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

According to Bousquet at the Coast those voting against were Rankin, Johns, Adams, Watts, Barkhouse and McCroskey.

Surprised by Adams and Johns being against. Watts and Barkhouse just need to go away.

I'm surprised by Adams voting against as well. He has always been a bit of a bigger thinker in my view.
Johns is not as much a surprise! He is always against anything that is not a promo for him personally or a plus for his area. He thinks only in his corner of the box.
Rankin will follow the money if the Feds and Province pony up he will likely follow.

[Empire]

It's too bad that Watts, Rankin and the rest of councillors who don't want a stadium couldn't be lectured on community spirit and sense of pride in the community. This community is seriously divided on a number of issues and there isn't one avenue to bring people together. A stadium will do that and these councillors need to know it. The Canada Winter Games, the Brier, World Juniors etc. are one time events that show how a community can work together. With a stadium that community effort will be ongoing and help to bring some cohesiveness to this seriously divided community. Perhaps we need a diversion from being a big time crime capital?

When Watts asked how many games would be played here if we are a host for the 2015 FIFA World Cup and what kind of media exposure could one expect it clearly demonstrates she was not informed enough to make a decision and should have obstained. What she was getting at was "what..... only one or two games for all that money" let's just build a couple of lousy soccer fields with no seating and everyone in my district will be happy.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Empire

Now that HRM is well on its way to getting a major stadium allow me to continue with my audit of the Magnetic Hill site.

As I have mentioned I was not at all impressed with the site as shown below:


Rating out of 10:

Empire's opinion:

Accessibility 1
Layout and amenities 0
Directives and sinage 0
Viewing angles 2
Reason to stay more than one day 0
Security and safety issues addressed 0
Distance from Halifax 0
Walking to hotels 0

The misnomer of ampitheatre for this site has been used many times. There is a slight grade down to the stage which may actually work against the site. In photo 1 the stage is blocked by a concert goers head. In photo 2 if girl 1 is applied to the shoulders of guy 1 the stage is blocked completely. Maybe the stage should be at the high end of the site?

Photo 1 by Empire


Photo 2 by Empire

You should check out Budyser's slideshow of the U2 concert that was posted on the Maritime Concert Scene thread:

http://s83.photobucket.com/albums/j303/blacquiere/U2%202011/?albumview=slideshow

He wandered all over the site and got much better pictures than you did. I don't think you tried very hard!

Sorry to hijack the thread, but it upsets me when Haligonians go out of their way to besmirch Moncton. It's not necessary.

[TheNovaScotian]

But it's alright for you to detract from our community but how dare someone go after yours?
Listen your in the Halifax thread where we are allowed to have our opinions, we are not in the Moncton thread making these claims, if your cities thread is not interesting enough and you have to come over here, you are going to have to develop a little thicker skin
I'm not saying I agree or disagree with his breakdown of Magnetic Hill, because really the whole thing should have been moved to a different thread

Cheers to the 16 that voted for the motion, really they are all we need to get this thing built, lets stop worrying about the detractors and send our regards to the forward thinking councilors and shore up their continued support.