“From a purely economic perspective, there is not a compelling case for public investment in professional sports facilities..........,”
said Glen Hodgson, Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist in a report from the Conference Board of Canada.
This whole interesting article can be read at:
http://www.conferenceboard.ca/press/newsrelease/11-08-29/Public_Funding_For_Professional_Sports_Facilities_Needs_To_Be_Examined_City-By-City_And_Case-By-Case.aspx
Cranbrook's HomeRun Society recently shelved its immediate plans to build a professional standard ball stadium in Cranbrook. Cranbrook has in its Five year Financial Plan a line item of $500,00.00 for the construction of Ball Diamonds and another $125,000.00 for the construction of a stadium both of which would have assisted a potential professional franchise. The Home Run Society is now asking for the $125,000.00 to be spent upgrading Confederation Park.
When the City has invested heavily in ball diamonds at Moir Park why would the society not want to make the most of that new facility? Confederation Park borders a valuable a natural area and important bird staging area. Confederation Park has already been downgraded once. It would seem to make more sense to slowly keep working towards the upgrade of Cranbrook's Moir Park rather than invest in an area which possibly needs to be phased out. If the monies set aside were funds generated in any way from the original Moir Park (the large gravel pit that was Moir Athletic Park) then wouldn't the scaled down upgrades of the new Moir Park be where the funds must be spent?
You make excellent point re the use of Moir Park, The next council must be very careful about spending any tax dollars on "new" sports facilities. We are living with the Rec Plex boondoggle supported by some who are still on council.
ReplyDeleteAs President of the Home Run Society, I would like to point out some inaccuracies and false assumptions that you make:
ReplyDelete1. The proposed team - Cranbrook Eds - is not a 'professional' team... it is an amateur team. The players who play there are College level players who play for the love of the game.
2. We are a non-profit society. Any revenue goes back into operations, facilities, and to community groups.
3. The preference for the Home Run Society is to be at Moir Park, but due to the extreme cost of developing a brand new facility, we felt the most pragmatic approach and least burden to tax payers would be to upgrade the existing facility - Confederation Park. We respect the burden that tax payers carry within our community, and that has led us to make the decision we have made to upgrade Confederation Park, rather than the more expensive option at Moir.
4. We are very aware of potential impacts to wildlife habitat at Confederation Park, and we have been in contact with the appropriate people for over three years, and we are committed to mitigating our impacts.
5. There has been $125,000 devoted to a 'baseball stadium' in the 5 year plan for the last two+ years. This was the first time it was ever recorded as "Moir Park Baseball Stadium" - we presume because of the feasibility study that we completed for that particular location.
6. The other $500,000 for ball diamonds you refer to would not be a direct benefit to our goals, we aren't involved in that request, and you should not connect the two. The existing and proposed fields at Moir Park are sized for recreation play. The size of field we require for the level of baseball we want to bring to Cranbrook is much larger, and currently Confederation Park is the only one that is even remotely close.
7. In the article you link to, you cherry pick a quote, without giving both sides. I would like to bring attention to the line "A new arena or stadium may benefit the city as a whole by improving the quality of life of the community".... we feel that an investment of $125,000 would bring a new asset to our community, and provide a new community gathering place among many other benefits.
8. Please don't mix apples and oranges, by comparing the Rec Plex to our upgrade to Confederation Park. Baseball (hardball) has had very little investment into infrastructure over the years. The development of existing Confederation Park was done in 1990, and that was by a non-profit society, of which many members are now part of our group.
9. Many people within our group have put in countless hours into having a conditional franchise for our community, and I believe your comments show a lack of respect to the many volunteers who want to bring this team and facility to our community. We live in a diverse community with many people working towards positive goals. You should value this, as it makes our community a better place.
10. I find that your negative position towards our goals is hypocritical based upon your support and fandom of the Kootenay Ice in previous posts. What we are trying to do is bring another community team to our City, which can be rallied around. http://livablecranbrook.blogspot.com/2011/05/go-ice-go.html
If you would like more information on our goals and objectives, I invite you to contact me directly, or visit our web site: www.CranbrookEds.com
Garry Slonowski
President, Home Run Society
info@homerunsociety.com
There are some valuable points raised as a result of this item. Perhaps the degree of separation (between the article and Garry Slonowski's comments) isn't as wide as it appears. The article itself is an interesting read that raises many questions. Questions that our community as a whole needs to wrestle with.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that it is appropriate to make unfounded claims, and then justify these inaccuracies because it "raises valuable points". This is not an acceptable way to start a dialogue, and it is a dis-service to those who are trying to improve our community through volunteerism.
ReplyDeleteYou as a group have the obligation to know the facts before you provide damaging opinions.
Garry Slonowski
President, Home Run Society
info@homerunsociety.com