Saying Goodbye To Kin I
Prince George, BC – It’s a ceremony that’s meant to say ‘thanks for the memories’ – 40-years of memories played out on the ice surface in the Kin I arena…
Tomorrow a number of Old-timers hockey players will take to the ice for a scrimmage that will mark the last day of ice in the old arena, as preparations begin for the Kin Enhancement Project.
The $16-million dollar project was the subject of controversy last June when then-City Councillor Shari Green brought forward a motion that was approved by a vote of 5-2 to alter the planned upgrades to include a new stand alone arena – tacking an additional $6-million onto the price tag.
Two weeks later, under a rarely used section of the Community Charter, then-Mayor Dan Rogers brought the motion back before council and it was rescinded by a vote of 6-3. (With Green and Councillors Cameron Stolz and Brian Skakun maintaining their support for the motion.)
During tomorrow evening’s scrimmage, Mayor Shari Green will be joined by other officials for a short presentation to raise two Provincial Hockey Championships banners – won by the Bantam Female Rep Cougars and the Midget Tier I Male Cougars this season – to the rafters for the final time in Kin I.
"This is an important evening as we have the great honour of recognizing and congratulating these two teams on achieving this rare and significant achievement of winning a provincial banner," says CN Centre and Community Arenas Manager, Andy Beesley.
"It’s also a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the 40 great years of memories that have occurred in Kin I." A number of the old-timers taking part in the gam were among the first to skate on Kin I ice when it was first flooded four decades ago.
The game begins at 7pm, with the banner raising slated for 7:30pm. Afterwards, arena staff will begin to remove the ice to make way for the upcoming PG Home Show and, beginning May 1st, the renovation project begins.
Comments
Dan Rogers defining moment in politics. Good riddance… Now he can be a cheerleader from the sidelines for a PAC.
Awwwww……is your ice time going to be sqeezed a little. Life is so unfair.
I know it sounds like a broken record…but 16 mill would go a long ways towards repairing the roads in PG….
It will be interesting ,to see if this reno
comes in under budget or over budget!!
Ain’t that the truth, Mercenary.
It is all just a matter of priority ….. or people willing to pay taxes as high as those in other communities have. ;-)
It will be interesting to see how they are going to put this out to tender. Maybe we will have another heating plant fiasco and we will get pople at City Hall to manage the construction off the sides of their desks.
I know it sounds like a broken record…but 16 mill would go a long ways towards repairing the roads in PG….
The money is coming from the Feds for the rink. No rink no money.
You have to ask–“will it be over budget”!!! I think that’s a given, of course it will go over!
Hey, HockeyForever, you wrote: “The money is coming from the Feds for the rink. No rink no money”
Can you please point me to somewhere on the internet which tells a differnt sotry than this linked page does?
http://princegeorge.ca/infocentre/communications/media%20releases/MediaBriefing2015CanadaWinterGames.pdf
The source for that document is the City of Prince George and is located on their site.
The Kin 1 is a capital project.
It says this about capital projects:
“Proposed Capital Budget:
Approx. $18 million
Federal and Provincial funding- approx. $6 million
Major proposed project would include upgrades to the Kin Centre”
That $6million is total, so $3million each, with the City providing $12 million.
Are all hockey players so ill informed about what goes on in this City?
Oh, and if anyone wants to see a more recent figure, then look at this report. Some may remember it from June of 2011.
http://princegeorge.ca/cityhall/mayorcouncil/councilagendasminutes/agendas/2011/2011_06_13/documents/Cmty_Serv_Standalone_arena_report_MERGED.pdf
âAt the concept design stage the current capital plan for the upgrade of the Kin Centre Complex for the 2015 Canada Winter Games is estimated to cost $15.8 million which includes $180,000 for partial demolition of Kin 1.
This value addresses all the Canada Games bid standards and includes the Cityâs planned upgrades to remedy long standing deficiencies for the Kin Centre complex. The current Kin Centre Complex capital plan and other civic facility upgrades for the Games would be funded by the capital contributions of the Federal and Provincial Governments at $3 million each for a total of $6 million. The balance of the capital cost would be funded by the City. The Cityâs capital contribution within the 2015 bid also includes $579,000 of committed improvements to other City venues for an estimated total of $11.1miilion.â
I suspect that HockeyForever is employed in the city’s finance department who was schooled at the same institution as Peter McKay who said the $10 Billion price gap in F-35 funding was due to accounting differences :-)
Money aside for a sec, the Kin Centres were (are) dumps. Pretty embarrassing for a city this size.
People like Hockeyforever give all of us hockey guys a bad name. Even though my ice times are less than ideal, it’s the price I pay to play rec-hockey. I would rather see our roads be repaired, than another ice sheet constructed at a huge expence to us tax payers. The rink that Mr.Hines and his executive based their numbers on has been stopped in its tracks due to……..that’s right, cost overruns! Your nothing but a sheep being led around by the chair of our Rec Hockey executive, in an attempt to secure his job. Unlike you, I wore a helmet when I was younger so I can stand on my own two feet and think for myself. Don’t be a puppet like our major.
Just as an add on to my shot at Mr. or Mrs. Hockeyforever, some of us are old enough to have been ripped off ice time when the city had Kin 1 insulated with formaldehyde and lost the better part of two seasons while the insulatiopn was removed. Welcome to PG, suck it up Hockeyforever.
Whoops…insulation…..you know what I meant.
What the heck…. I’ll keep going. The roof on Kin 1 was done. Some time in the facility was going to be lost anyway. Johnybelt you are correct. As the main arena of PG minor hockey, despite the money spent on her, the old girl has become embarrassing. Of the two choices this was the best option.Still havn’t heard a word from PGMHA how they feel about a 200ft. by 100ft. ice surface . So anyway….my message stands,suck it up Hockeyforever….and good luck with Shari Green.
Money aside JohnnyBelt? “The Kin Centres were (are) dumps. Pretty embarrassing for a city this size.”
Well, I’ll tell you what is embarrassing for a City this size, THE ROADS, did you hear me JOHNNYBELT, THE ROADS.
And these clowns at city hall are inviting the whole of Canada to the POTHOLE of Canada in 2015 with the condition of the roads in the NORTHERN CAPITAL OF B.C.
What a disgrace the whole thing is. SHAME on Prince George City Council and anybody that defends this charade.
Taxi
Hey taxi, didn’t you move to Calgary like two years ago? Don’t they have OpinionCalgary.com where you could rant and rave? Ah, but I forgot, everything is fine in the land of milk and honey.
Yes, the roads are a mess… I was just making a point about the Kin Centres. Is that all right with you?
Taxi:
I certainly don’t need to stick up for Johnybelt but what hole are you stuck in ? Lloydminster was it ? Rock on bud.
Johnnybelt, I was born and raised in Prince George. 1952 was my first day there, May 18th as a matter of fact. My parents paid taxes there all there lives, I paid taxes there, for many flippen years. When did you arrive on the scene JohnnyBelt?
So, I have a financial interest in Prince George. Why did I move? Got tired of paying taxes for the rich to get all they wanted and the people that pay the bills get Squat! They can’t fix the bloody roads, but they got all these grand schemes to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for PAC’s and the like!
The City is a DISGRACE!!
Will I ever come back? Not likely, unless I see some real change! My Harley can’t take the POTHOLES.
and one more thing JohnnyBelt, I learned to ride a two wheeled bike on a gravel road. Our roads in the day were as smooth as glass compared to today. A grader used to make a pass several times in the summertime, and fill the holes with what the roads were made of, gravel!
Better days have passed……..
Taxi
Sorry Johnny…. I took two swings at em.. and nothing.
Sorry middle finger, I only saw one coming at me, and you missed!
LOL…. I have had one too many……night Taxi…..
night………..lol
Gotta laugh at hockeyforever. Our previous mayor along with the majority of Council came to their senses last year and realized there wasn’t millions of dollars kicking around to build yet another hockey rink.
Only our current mayor and I think councilor stolz thought they could build another rink and do it without spending anymore money. They must have gone to the same accounting class in elementary school. The lesson might have gone something like “Sure kids you can build more and spend less just wave your magic harry potter wand three times.” Yesh.
The great irony in this is that rodgers, who has been a hockey guy all his life and I think in fact lead the effort to build CN Centre, lost the election to our current mayor who ran on a platform to “cut costs”. This time last year mayor shari wanted to spend millions more on another hockey rink with absolutely no evidence we actually need another one. Now, less than a year later she is ms. crazy cuts, slashing everywhere (except of course when it came time for her to hire her own private assistant but that’s another story).
BC politics is entertaining at every level.
Taxi: “So, I have a financial interest in Prince George. “
You didn’t explain why. Do you own property or a business here? What is your ‘financial interest’?
Taxi: “Will I ever come back? Not likely, unless I see some real change! My Harley can’t take the POTHOLES.”
You say that as if someone actually cares whether you come back or not.
middle: “Sorry Johnny…. I took two swings at em.. and nothing.”
No worries. When one is punch-drunk they tend not to feel them anymore.
I agree with Johnny Belt. The Kin centers are an eyesore.
Sadly, much of Prince George (roads included) has become an eye sore. Anytime a plan is derived to mak an improvement on something, the complaining starts that the money should be going to something else. Problem is, almost everything needs upgrading, fixing or replacing. It may not please everyone, but we have to start somewhere.
You hit the nail mitch2! A group of us were just discussing this fact over the weekend….one year ago indeed, our Mayor and Stoltz were behind building a whole ‘nother sheet of ice to the tune of millions more in costs and operating expenses….with absolutely no justification and sound reasoning behind the folly – with no additional expense to citizens, of course:) Don’t forget the 300+ thousand increase in budget expenses for mayor and council.
I’d take another rink over a dike.
Comments for this article are closed.