Councilors Raise Concerns Over Oval

Thursday, March 09, 2006 03:51 AM

At least two City Councilors have now raised the matter of the Ice Oval being advertised by "TraininPG" an arm of Initiatives Prince George.

Councilor Brain Skakun says, "I assure you I was not pleased that the City/IPG had advertised the fact we are going to build a refrigerated ice oval this year. I contacted Administration, Mayor and Council and IPG and let them know how I am very uncomfortable that we are advertising something that was not accurate or premature since the business plan had not been submitted and the,”new Council “had not voted on it. "

Councilor Debora Munoz says she also is seeking clarification as to why we are advertising on the world stage that we are building such a facility without it being approved by Council.

The ad, which is being shown in seven different languages on the web site, hopes to attract athletes to train in Prince George for the 2010.

The site says,” Planned for construction in 2006, Prince George is developing plans to replace the existing 400 meter natural ice outdoor speed skating oval with a permanent outdoor oval with artificial ice “.

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Posted on Thursday, March 09, 2006 03:51 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Gofaster on March 9 2006 5:52 AM

Relax people you know that it is going to be passed and financed as is all the other "Special Sports Stuff". You wouldn't want to have the ire of the speed skaters on your shoulders would you....
my thoughts

Posted by: Rounder on March 9 2006 11:04 AM

The website says "plans are in the work to upgrade the current natural ice outdoor oval to a refrigerated outdoor oval ... Construction would begin in 2006", to me that means nothing is "set in stone" yet. I think this would be a great investment for the city even if it doesn't attract Olympic teams for training. It gives people the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors in the winter and summer.

Posted by: Palopu on March 9 2006 7:30 PM

I dont know how may people use this oval during the evening hours, however you would be very hard pressed to find more than 10 or 20 on most week days, and probably not a lot more on the week-ends. The Oval seems to be working fine as it is for the number of people using it.

If you want to spend $5 Million dollars to improve this facility for some nebulous reason, such as training for the 2010 olympics, and then have it sit idle for the most part after that, then by all means go for it. Just dont use my tax dollars.