The usual disclaimer applies - I did not get this article from the Brunswick News website 
Events centre fits well with plan: mayor
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Times & Transcript
By Brent Mazarolle
Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc says the goal of building a new multi-purpose events centre in the core of the city dovetails nicely with the city's proposed new municipal plan.
The draft PlanMoncton document - which will be the subject of a public hearing at Moncton City Hall on April 5 - calls for a revitalized downtown core that is vibrant and welcoming not just during the day, but on nights and weekends as well.
LeBlanc says the idea of an arts, entertainment, culture and sports complex at the heart of downtown meets the goals of the proposed plan, clustering people in the centre rather than seeing them scattered in venues throughout the city.
The fact that the proposed facility may not be explicitly addressed in great detail in the document is something 'I wouldn't see as a cause for concern,' LeBlanc said.
In fact, 'it would be unusual for such a document to mention a specific development,' the mayor said, emphasizing municipal plans generally look at city issues from a 10,000-foot perspective.
LeBlanc said he and others remain committed to making an events centre a reality, even though the city was disappointed last fall in its quest to get some federal cost-sharing for the project.
With numerous public opinion polls overwhelmingly supporting the construction of a new centre, not to mention support from organizations like Downtown Moncton Centre-Ville Incorporated, the mayor is refusing to give up.
Asked if there has been any departure from the goal, he said, 'not a bit.' One man among the thousands who have called for the city to build a new facility that would supercede but not completely replace the aging Moncton Coliseum has a bit more direct interest than others.
Metro Moncton businessman Robert K. Irving is owner and president of the Moncton Wildcats, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team that is the anchor tenant at the Coliseum and would be the anchor tenant in a new facility.
Beyond the benefits a new facility would bring the team, Irving sees the events it would host as having benefits extending well beyond just hockey.
'I think that it would really revitalize downtown in terms of people coming from out of the city who would visit the downtown more. It would create more activity for the different businesses in the downtown,' he said.
'People would be going downtown when they wouldn't for other reasons.' Asked if he was frustrated by the years that have come and gone without final decisions being made and ground being broken, the veteran businessman was perhaps more philosophical than many a fan of entertainment, the arts and sports has been over the decade or so that the conversation about dealing with the aging Coliseum has been happening.
'It has to go through a certain process. I guess the process is taking longer than what most people thought it would take,' he said.
Of course, 'all parties who are involved have to feel confident with the decision that has been made.' Meanwhile, the Wildcats - not to mention musical acts and the city's professional basketball team, the Moncton Miracles - will continue to use the Coliseum, where Irving says there is one big problem in particular.
'We always are battling the city for ice time, whether it be regular season or playoffs,' he said. In the past, the Wildcats have had to hold normally lucrative playoff games - the times when most sports teams make their money - in the relatively tiny J-Louis Levesque Arena. 'It's a big challenge for us,' Irving said. 'The league says Moncton is one of the most difficult for ice time.'
Prev
Linear Mode
