Upgraded Ice Oval a Done Deal?
By 250 News
Skaters on ice oval outside CN Centre
The line is, "If you build it, they will come" but in Prince George, it may be "If they're coming, you will have to build it."
If you visit Events Prince George's www.traininpg.com web site you will see that, in several different languages, there is a clear message Prince George will start construction this summer on a new artificial ice oval.
According to the web site, "Planned for construction in 2006, Prince George is developing plans to replace its existing 400 metre natural ice outdoor speed skating oval with a permanent outdoor oval with artificial ice." The segment goes on to say "The proposed oval will be 400 m of smooth concrete, used for speed skating in the winter, and in-line skating during the summer months."
The plan sounds ambitious, only one problem. It has yet to be approved.
The Ice Oval Society presented a plan to Prince George City Council in August of last year, requesting $31,000.00 to put towards the development of a comprehensive business plan. That request was approved (see previous story), but there has been no approval for the final budget of the ice oval and a building to go with it, a budget the Society estimates will come in at about $5 million dollars.
The business plan has not yet been presented to Council.
The Society's timeline for the costruction of the ice oval suggests funding sources should be secured by the end of April this year, with the funding broken down to contributions from the City, Regional District, Provincial and Federal Governments, corporate and personal sponsorships and private donations. The actual amount each area would be expected to contribute to the total was not clear.
What is clear, is that "traininpg" is inviting teams to come and train in Prince George on an ice oval that has yet to be given final approval.
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Posted by: shawnpetriw on February 28 2006 10:16 AM
Another sports facility jumps the queue in front of a downtown performing arts centre.
While we should be in favour of sports facilities, we must realize that kids pursuing the performing arts in our town tend to end up with careers, while those pursuing sports end up with nice memories, perhaps a scholarship.
Don't believe me? Who from Prince George, who received most of their training from Prince George, has a career playing their sport? Turner Stevenson and who else? Don’t include PG Cougars who didn’t develop here, either, and who are you left with?
I'm not talking about those who coach or teach either; I'm talking about those who play a sport for money.
On the other hand, I can quickly name Eira Glover, Johnathan Crow, Demitri Goritsas, Christopher Larsen, Trevor Addie, Kennedy Goodkey, Siona Jackson, Stephanie Chow, Cary Hamilton, Brent Parolin. Give me a few hours and I'll come up with at least fifty.
Sure, sport builds character, teamwork, leadership, and dedication to excellence, all worthy public policy objectives. But the performing arts build these AND careers.
In the broader view, arts education and capacity has more economic payoff now than anytime in our history. We live in a world of abundance, not scarcity -- just look at the number of tubes of toothpaste you have to choose from at the store. More and more of a company's success is based on design, packaging, marketing and the "cool" factor. Our cars today need to be well-engineered, but also have strong styling appeal to be successful in the marketplace.
That is art. It’s the ultimate value-added product. It’s an economic necessity in the car business and just about any other consumer business you can think of.
Perhaps it's time to have more public investment in the arts, starting with a performing arts centre downtown.
Shawn Petriw