After over three hours of debate and presentations on Tuesday
afternoon, Edmonton City council decided to move forward on the downtown arena
project.
While many councillors voiced concerns over the budget, and making
cost-saving changes to the design, but overall, council passed the motion.
Councillors Caterina, Diotte, and Sloan voted against the motion.
Councillors Sohi, Krushell, Iveson, Henderson, Batty, Leibovici, Loken,
Anderson, Gibbons and Mayor Mandel voted in favour.
"Put behind you the idea of whether Mr. Katz is going to make
or not going to make money. He is rich today, he'll be rich tomorrow, he'll be
rich the day after. This is not about his wealth; he's got it. This is about
Edmonton. And maybe we can once in a while put behind us the concern we have
about pennies and nickels, and build this great city, and do things that are
best for the city. And that doesn't mean we don't listen to what councillors
have to say, because there's some great suggestions were made today," said
Mandel just before council voted.
Ceterina voted against the motion, but stated there is no need to
be concerned over whether or not the changes being made to the building will
still make it iconic, because it is already being set up as such.
"It's really about who is going to pay for it,
over what term are we going to pay for it, and how much of it is going to come
out of the public purse,” said Sloan who also voted against the motion.
“We do not have a complete funding framework for this
deal and to go on designing and proposing components for the agreement I think
is really premature," added
Sloan.
Sohi, who voted in favour of the motion, expressed his
concerns prior to the vote. "I hope that as you move ahead you will be
able to look at some other factors-- interior, exterior, and make those choices
and live within the budget. It is $450 million dollars. If we said that to Edmontonians
I think we need to live in that budget."
Mayor Mandel also added the arena project is bigger
than just the arena. He stated, “Our downtown solely needs an
evolutionary project that is going to make a change to our city.”
The developer agreed to continue to make changes to the arena plan
in order to make it more cost-efficient, and will continue to consult with
council.
Read the full council agenda here.
With files from Vinesh Pratap
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