Proposed Winnipeg Water Park
Here is the thread guys. I am not sure how to post all relevant conversations to this thread so we can continue the discussion here, however I will try. If someone would like to do so before I am finished that will work too.
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I will just start with the letter's sent to city council
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I just received a very beautiful and thought out reply from Scott Fielding. I really appreciate the time he put into getting back to me. What a nice man.
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http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/loc...147121145.html
Mayor Sam Katz's dream of using public funds to build a private water park may soon come to fruition in the form of a $75-million hotel, water park and parkade complex northwest of The Forks. On Friday, council's downtown and riverbank committee will consider an offer by Drumheller, Alta., hotel chain Canalta to purchase the gravel surface lot known as Parcel Four from the city for $6 million. Working with Calgary water-park designer Waterfun Products and an undisclosed group of investors, Canalta wants to build a 250-room hotel, a 450-stall parkade and a 50,000-square-foot, stand-alone water park with a wave pool, slides and a lazy river, among other amenities. The plan also calls for Winnipeg to provide Canalta with a $7-million grant, contingent upon the completion of a community-access agreement that would provide the city with $700,000 worth of admission credits every year for the next 25 years. "In return for the grant, the proponent will have to abide by a public-access agreement. Kids, wherever they come from, will have access to this investment," Mayor Sam Katz said Wednesday, stating he believes there is "overwhelming support" from the public for a water park. |
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"Thank you for your thoughts and concerns..." The ... were his. To me this reads, shut up lowly citizen, its happening despite the merits against it. |
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I received the following thoughtful (automated?!?) reply from Sam Katz's office:
On behalf of Mayor Sam Katz, I would like to thank you for your email. Please be assured that your comments are valued and will be brought to the Mayor's attention. Again, thank you for your email. Yours sincerely, Tania Costantini Liba Office of the Mayor The City of Winnipeg |
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Jenny Gerbasi was the first councelor to actually get back to me. Here is what she said, followed by my reply.
Thanks for writing ! I appreciate hearing your thoughts...I have a lot of concerns about this proposal as well. Most sincerely, Jenny This is my reply Jenny, Thank you for taking the time to get back to me. I don't want to reiterate what I have already said, but I would like one thing to be clear regarding Mr. Katz, or Sam, which ever you prefer. His statement claiming that the vast majority of the populace is behind this Water Park is nothing short of conjecture if not completely false. I feel I am beating a dead horse by sending my letter in as this proposal will probably go through, and considering that so far Mr. Katz and Mr. Fieldings have both ignored my pleas. I don't know what kind of ability you have to prevent this from going through, but since you are the first councelor to actually take the time to read what it is I have to say, I would like to thank you and inform you that you have my backing as a citizen on questioning this. It may not mean much to you, but I know many people who are not at all happy with what Katz is doing to ensure this will go through. |
While I don't doubt that Jenny did read your email, I got the exact same response from her. Make of that what you will.
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Well at least her automated response machine is heart felt and sincere. |
I just saw this thread so i will put my comment here as well:
I look at it like this $75 million comprises Phase 1 & 2 of hotel, water park and parkade. Phase 1 - 125 room hotel - $15-$20 million - Water park - $15 - $20 million Phase 2 - 125 room hotel expansion - $10 -$15 (most amenities would be in first phase) - 400+ stall parkade - $15 - $20 million Money gets pretty thin with all of those components. I am not expecting anything Forks worthy here but we should all reserve judgement until we get the first render. ....just a note, on the CanadInn website for Grand Forks it lists the water park there as 40,000 sq ft. So essentially what we are going to get here is a glorified hotel water park. This will be nothing like a destination water park like WEM. Another example is the Water Park of America in Minneapolis that we really liked, is 70,000 sq ft. This is a great hotel water park but again not a destination water park. I feel that 50,000 sq ft is too small but then again i am not footing the bill. I think i would feel differently if it weren't being touted as Winnipeg's water park instead of just a new hotel with a great water park. |
To me the problem lies solely with the location. I would not have a problem with this proposal if it was located somewhere outside of downtown. Not all development belongs in an urban core. Most political members would recognize that, however we all know that Katz does things out of his own interest, not out of those he serves.
And yes touting it as "Winnipeg's" Water Park makes it seem as though this is the big project we have all been waiting for. I am glad were are just below par in comparison to a city of 13 000 people. |
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Someone mentioned earlier that the waterpark should be located at Seasons of Tuxedo/IKEA location. It would make complete sense if they put that there, and not at The Forks.
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If there's a need for a catalyst to make the Seasons of Tuxedo go into full fruition, then this new waterpark would be it. EDIT: Fun Mountain was great, whenever we have parties or special events going on. I just wish they would update the place, rather than make it look like it's stuck in the 90's. |
katz had better be careful...he thinks he will be a hero when the long awaited waterpark opens but with all the public anticipation, when they finally see that it is a roadside motel with a waterpark of the same scale as the canad inns grand forks hotel pool, the bloom will come off the rose pretty quickly and he wont be much of a hero.
losing that $7m is nothing compared to losing the potential of that land forever. can you picture this beside the guggenheim in bilabao?.....nice way to welcome the world. http://media.prontohotel.com/_htl/48...82/89854-l.jpg http://www.trekaroo.com/photos/0005/..._wide_view.jpg |
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