stubblejumper1

I don't understand why the city and the flames owners can't come to an agreement pending approval from tax payers. A $500K deal to buy/sell a home always has conditions prior to the sale being finalized (inspection, financing, etc). $5+ billion deals in the oil patch require shareholder approval after the deal is announced. Why couldn't a $500MM deal have a condition requiring tax payer approval? I believe the Flames want to keep the deal private because they got destroyed in the media when: 1. They asked for the City to fund a disproportionate amount of the billion dollar plus West Village project. 2. They asked the City to pay for essentially all of the new arena. The Flames ownership doesn't want a deal put in front of taxpayers because the Flames will never settle for a deal that is fair to taxpayers.

We have to pay for access to the Stampede - I can't just wander onto the stampede grounds and go check out the displays in the Saddledome. It is dishonest to suggest I could go to a Flames <$20 and even if I could, attendance is not free. The majority, if not all of the other infrastructure projects the City (using our tax dollars) pays for are free to attend. I am fine with the negotiations occuring in private, but I believe no deal should be signed without public approval. Did the Peace Bridge, the library, the airport tunnel or the blue ring cost over $1,000,000,000? The C-train benefits over 100,000 people every day. A new rink benefits 10,000 season ticket holders for 40 nights a year (plus a few billionaire owners every day).

Like everyone else in the city who voted, I voted for one councillor not the entire council. I have no problem with the negotiations ocurring in private, as long as no deal is signed until tax payers have a say. I had no say on the library deal, but I can go to the library and check out books for free. What would be the point of going to a council meeting to discuss negotiations that are kept private? I would be nothing more than a protester. Seems counterproductive.

Where would the money for the environmental grant come from? The tax payer?

As a tax payer I believe the City has a duty to inform me of negotiations that involve hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars. I don't need to know all the details, but I would like to know what the terms are before a deal is signed. Why? Because this is a piece of infrastructure that tax dollars will help pay for, but unlike other infrastructure projects, I will not be able to use a new arena without shelling out hundreds of my own dollars. The airport tunnel may not be anywhere near my home, but if I want to drive in the tunnel I can. The new arena will be off limits to me and my family unless I spend hundreds of dollars on event tickets. The more I think about it, the more I believe the city needs to put any arena deal to a referendum.

If the Flames are quoting $890MM and the City is quoting $1800MM, the cost will likely be in excess of $2000MM. Large scale construction projects rarely come in under estimate. It is much more likely that an unforeseen expense will be encountered than it is to encounter an unforeseen cost saving measure.

I may be misunderstanding your post, but it is going to take a lot more than voting in a new provincial government to get capital investment back into the Alberta oil and gas industry. Assuming Jason Kenney wins the next provincial election, he won’t be any more effective at Getting pipelines built than Rachel Notley, Alison Redford or Ed Stelmach. The pipeline decisions are out of the Alberta government’s hands. The governments in B.C., Quebec and Nebraska are the ones that need to approve construction. Once those governments approve construction TCPL/Enbridge/Kinder Morgan have to make final investment decisions (until these companies break ground on construction they are doing little more than political posturing). Beyond the pipeline issues, Canada has a carbon tax that makes our oil industry less competitive. Kenney can remove Alberta’s carbon tax, but he has no say in getting rid of Trudeau’s carbon tax that would replace the Alberta carbon tax. Finally, and most importantly, current oil prices do not justify significant spending in the oil sands. Major oil companies have better investment opportunities elsewhere. I agree that a rink likely will not be built until the Alberta oil and gas industry picks up, but the industry will not pick up significantly with a new provincial government. The one one wild card is a rink may be built if Calgary wins another Olympic bid.

I agree. Nenshi has no desire to spend money in the west end.

That is what I wanted to clarify. The city has signed off and funded the portion of the ring road through the reservation to Highway 8. However, the portion of the ring road from Highway 8 to 16th Avenue/Highway 1 has not been funded and does not have an ETA for construction. For some reason many people think the current phase of Stoney Trail construction will complete the Ring Road, but there is a significant stretch of road that will still have to be built at some point in the future. I live in the West End of the city and I would prefer to see the Ring Road completed before the City gives a pile of money to Murray Edwards to built a new rink.

I think I get what you are saying, but could you clarify what you mean by 3/4 of the ring road?

Hope you come back. There are a lot of brave people on this board who have no problem yapping from the safety of their basement. No need to take them seriously. Opinions are like “belly buttons,” everybody has one.

All class. What an embarrassment for the organization.

That is an interesting idea. Calgary might get help from Notley, but Trudeau wouldn’t even answer the phone if he saw a 403 number on call display.

Now that is some visionary thinking.

Sorry for over reacting to your post. I thought it was another one of the condescending posts floating around this board that make new people feel unwelcome. I am being anal, but transfer payments come from the federal government to the provinces. Transfer payments are a per capita payment to the provinces that are generally used to pay for health care, etc. Equalization is the money taken from the "have" provinces and given to the "have not" provinces to equalize quality of living across the country.

The amount of shipping to Canada is insignificant compared to the amount of shipping within the USA. The amount of shipping to Alberta is likely insignificant compared to the amount of shipping to Ontario and Quebec. I don't think geography is going to help bring Amazon to Calgary. I'm not sure if you have ever been to New Jersey, but it is quite close to New York city. There is likely a lot of shipping in and out of the New York Port Authority and the Laguardia/JFK airports. Personally, I feel there is little to no chance that the current federal government will want a large employer to move to the prairies. Those 50,000 votes will be much more valuable in Ontario/Quebec.

I read an analysis on this poll and the author said it will be interesting to see if the people who supported Bill Smith in the poll will get out and vote. Nenshi's supporters do get out and vote...while most Calgarians don't bother to vote (only about 39% voted in the last civic election). The gist of the analysis was that not liking Nenshi in a poll is one thing, going out and voting against Nenshi is another. The author hinted that the poll may also be misleading because 10-15% of the people polled were unsure (this is a high percentage of unsure voters). If Nenshi wins over the unsure voters he would win (the same could be said for Bill Smith). It will be interesting to see what happens on election night.

It is getting harder and harder to side with the Flames when Eric Francis is their biggest supporter. The team should probably tell him to stick to schlepping pancakes at his diner. That might help the situation.

My post wasn't directed at anyone, just venting. ?

I find it insulting that Ken King thinks people are stupid enough to believe that the ticket surcharge would/should be Flames revenue. That is like complaining that: 1. GST charged on tickets should be considered Flames revenue. 2. Ticketmaster fees charged on tickets should be considered Flames revenue. A surcharge is a way to pass on the arena cost to consumers who choose to attend Flames games (a very reasonable idea, in my opinion.) The math is simple: [(expenses - other revenue) + (capital investment)*(1+ROR)]/[(# games per year)*(avg attendance)] = avg ticket price where: expenses = salaries, travel, equipment, advertising, etc. for the year other revenue = beer, concessions, parking, merchandise, etc. for the year capital investment = what the owners paid for the team ROR = the rate of return the Flames owners want on their investment # games per year = 41 + 4 (because they charge full price for all the exhibition games) avg attendance = average number of tickets sold per home game avg ticket price = the average price per ticket the Flames need to charge to make the owner's investment profitable. The ticket surcharge, Ticketmaster fees and GST are added to the cost of the ticket. Consumers then decide whether or not they are willing to pay to go to a Flames game. Anyone one who is siding with Ken King/the Flames ownership needs to consider this: Eric Francis is siding with Ken King and the owners. That Takes all credibility away from KK and the owners.

Thought I would throw this out there - it seems to me that Ramo cheats to the short side on the rush. When the opposing team is bringing the puck in on the wing he stands too close to the icing line of the short side, leaving too much room on the far side. Thoughts?

What it means is that it is only mathematically possible for 7 teams to have a worse +/- from their bottom pairing. So, at best the Flames bottom pairing is worse than the bottom pairing from 22 other teams (based on +/-.) That is nothing to brag about.

Sven Baertschi has to take all the responsibilty for not making the olympic team. In both the nhl and the ahl he has been underwhelming. He gave the swiss management team no reason to believe that he could keep up against even better competition in the olympics.

The Flames are low on talent, but they put in an honest effort every night. It is supremely frustrating to see the goalies give up a soft goal nearly every game. Having 2 potential NHL calibre goalies battle it out for an entire season seems like unnecessary punishment for the players and the fans. It is like throwing in the towel.