First of all, the backstory: I was in attendance tonight so I got to sit through the entire event hearing about the panel's preconceived notions. Second: I am of the opinion that CBC could have done a much, much, MUCH better job of selecting panellists. Alan (former city planner in Saskatoon) and Victor (Sports Economist from the US) were fantastic - while I may have not agreed with all of the points they raised, from a purely academic and thought-provoking point of view, they drove this discussion and I appreciated their input. The other two, whose names I'm not even sure about because I couldn't handle them, should have be reconsidered - not to say I didn't agree with their points, but the way they said them and the lack of emotional intelligence (along with lack of caring about the issue) was unforgivable in my mind.
Now to the real meat and potatoes:
It was a decent discussion, but it always did come back to a few major points:
1) Economics (of course, the major one, but I felt as if most were bias in the room already, as usual).
2) Transit/Parking
3) Downtown vibrancy (restaurant/bar/retail)
4) Accessibility - different than Transit/Parking because it was mostly used to refer to those unable to attend events due to financial issues
The Interview
The beginning of the evening began with the moderator (sorry, forget her name - from CBC Radio I believe) interviewing the current CEO of SaskTel Centre. Mr. Lofdahl was funny and relatable (had quite a few good examples which I wish I could recall right now) but in my honest opinion, wasn't a good speaker. Again, that's only my opinion, and I did actually really enjoy his jokes and examples.
The Panel
The panel was... interesting. The beginning discussion on the actual economics behind the arena was grounded in data/facts and minimal emotion, but then the same question was posed to the "community commentator" and "leader of the neighbourhood youth co-op", and while I have no probably with them on the panel, they didn't really add much to the conversation.
The "community commentator (no joke, that's what her title was on the program)" complained that on days where a downtown arena/convention centre isn't being used, that's an extra block or two she would have to walk. I'm not kidding - that's what her contribution was. This is also the same lady who (incorrectly) stated the cost of renovating SaskTel Centre to be $100,000. She seemed to be against it with her introduction speech (which was way too long) on how it won't add much (fair), cause too much traffic (like it's any good right now), and environmental effect. I think she realized what she was trying to argue was wrong halfway through her third point about the emissions and general environmental effect - she started going as if a new arena would be a horrible idea for emissions and I think by looking at the audience she realized that by building something newer might just be a little a little bit more environmentally friendly (okay, a lot) than the old building. Not to mention the people that could bike/walk/bus more to a downtown arena. I didn't put much thought into the rest of her statements throughout the night.
The "neighbourhood youth co-op director (NYCD)" couldn't even be bothered to dress up for a relatively formal event (compared to daily work) where he was being live-streamed and in front of ~100 people in the room. Started the evening out basically saying how he wasn't here to make the discussion about Brown people vs. White People, entitlement, or his life stories, but that's pretty much what he did. I felt like he wanted to get up and have a fistfight with the former Tourism Saskatoon gentleman who was using logic to defend his position about a combined TCU/SaskTel Centre and how that would be more accessible downtown. The NYCD preceded to then talk about entitlement and even the Remai Modern (the venue for tonight's event), calling himself an ass, and also about how he wanted to get into the hotel industry but as a drunk, he didn't fit in (his words, not mine). Also began the night stating he didn't care 30 years ago about the downtown arena debate, nor does he care now. Great choice CBC.
Alan Wallace, who now works for V3 Companies of Canada but previously worked in the city's planning department, was strongly in favour of the downtown arena as he stated it drives economic development downtown, raises property values, allows for better utilization of transit, the feasibility of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), and just all-around making the city a better place to live and do business. I suppose I was biased in the fact that I believe a downtown arena/convention centre could be a very good thing for our city if done right, but he used quite a bit of fact, logic, and experience to explain his position.
Victor (something, can't recall his last name) is a Sports Economist for a University in the states somewhere (near Boston I want to say). He was interesting and I was glad to see the CBC get someone in academia involved, and he was probably who I resonated with the most. He's not a local, so he didn't completely understand the NIMBYism of the city, nor the past battles with traffic, downtown arenas, etc., but he provided reasoning. He kind of started of the night saying how he was against arenas in cores of cities, especially when supported through tax dollars, because they contribute very little/none at all to economic development of the core, but he did end by saying how this would most definitely be an issue we would need to hold a referendum on. Did say how Saskatoon is definitely a different type of story than previous examples he's used, but nonetheless, was pretty rigid in his facts and studies.
Victor made the case that there would be little enhancement to our economy from relocation, and more just a relocation of the current economic spin-offs.
I really would have liked them to focus more on the ageing arena and the building aspects more than traffic and the downtown arena itself, because I would have talked about how Saskatoon is losing big-name acts and shows because of the state of our arena and convention centres. Mr. Lofdahl even said this implicitly (how we've fallen in the number of shows/attendance over the years) at the beginning but very little (if any at all) was mentioned about this. Mr. Lofdahl did speak to how the economic effects on the city due to the World Juniors ($2 Million economic effects I believe), Garth Brooks ($75 Million I think?) more than showing the return on investment the city has indirectly gained through the current arena.
Just did this off of memory - so I admit my numbers and memory in general from the last two hours may be a little off. Hope that kind of explains how things went on tonight. Benefits will need to be clear to citizens of the city if we want them to vote yes on it.
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