For anyone worried the the lesson’s of the Plan A gift which just keeps on giving which Bruce Beck and John Smith stick handled through council and past its many detractor, people in municipal government all over the place are talking about George Peary’s Deal, which, on Monday, George Peary 2.0 (Bruce Banman) described to CBC Radio as a ten-year contract and a subsidy.
We won’t be surprised if Plan A is taught in Public Administration courses at universities around the world as the one thing you don’t want to do under any circumstances if you are a municipality.
Here are some excerpts from Thunder Bay on tbnewswatch.com sent to us by one of our readers.
Playing it safe?
By Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com
[excerpt]
Asked if the city of Thunder Bay planned to sign a similar type deal with True North Sports and Entertainment, owners of the Jets, [Thunder Bay Mayor, Tim] Commisso said absolutely not.
“No,” was his one-word initial response.
Commisso went on to say Thunder Bay and the Jets are both doing their due diligence, that no deal has been signed and locally they plan to do things right.
That wasn’t the case in Abbotsford, he said.
“Abbotsford built their facility first with 7,000 seats and then needed to get a tenant, so they agreed to cover the Heat’s losses beyond a certain level. They were also only averaging about 2,500 fans, maybe less,” Commisso said.
“That won’t be the case in Thunder Bay and that is also why we are looking at 5,700 seats, maximum.”
[source] [excerpt] Would the city consider an incentive-laden deal to lure a team to Thunder Bay?Like Commisso, Hobbs said not a chance.
“It’s going to have to be affordable and sustainable, that whole project, right from building the event centre to who our partners are going to be. We’re not signing any sweetheart deals just to attract someone here,” he said.
The city plans to apply for money to pay a portion of the event centre’s cost through the federal government’s $14-billion Building Canada fund. Thunder Bay has set aside about $22.5 million to cover some of its share of the cost through Renew Thunder Bay.
[source]For more ‘From the Cheap Seats’ check under Pop Voice in our Opinion section or simply click here.