The Downtown Arena

by Scott Reynolds on Jul 21, 2010 7:58 PM MDT

There was a public meeting today between the Katz Group and Edmonton city council. For those of you living in Edmonton, "Should we spend hundreds of millions of dollars on an arena and/or the Katz Group's downtown revitalization project?" is a very important question. The Katz Group has their own website and if you're interested in what they're proposing and the arguments in favour of the project, that's a great place to start. "Why Downtown?" is the (hilarious) title of Andy Grabia's new "pro-Edmonton, pro-downtown website that opposes the downtown arena project as currently proposed." Andy wrote a lot about this issue from 2006 to 2009 and I'm pleased that the public will once again have the chance to benefit from his perspective.

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I have a friend that works for ctv. Today Katz’s press guy told the media he would have a media scrum with them after the meeting. They told them the time and the place to be and the. After the meeting Katz ducked out the back and left the media hanging.

Needless to say all the media guys were pissed so look for some very bad press on this in the near future.

Also Katz was completely ripped apart in the council meeting. He would not answer questions directly and would provide no straightforward answers to the questions he was asked.

Don’t count on Katz receiving any government funding for the new arena. Not with this current regime.

by Jeremywilhelm on Jul 22, 2010 12:04 AM MDT via mobile reply actions

http://oilersnation.com/2010/7/22/rx2-the-arena-deal-takes-a-positive-step

by SumOil on Jul 22, 2010 7:42 AM MDT up reply actions

Whoa, wait a second, a positive spin from an Oilers based website?!?!?! ZOMG!

by Jeremywilhelm on Jul 23, 2010 4:36 PM MDT up reply actions

Arena

Although I believe Katz was wrong to leave the media hanging, I also think sometimes the media try to make a story out of nothing also city hall can be very fustrating and cannot see the forest for the trees. This new arena needs to be done asap. If city hall wants Katz to assume all the risks then they need a wake up call. The money this entertainment district will bring to Edmonton and the local business will be huge. Its time for city hall to break from the norm take a step back and look at the big picture.

by Longbottom on Jul 23, 2010 3:25 PM MDT reply actions

Someone needs to read Andy’s old posts on BoA…

SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.

by Doogie2K on Jul 23, 2010 5:04 PM MDT up reply actions

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