City council should commit to building another ice sheet in Prince George, but only after Kin 1 is fully renovated as planned.
A grassroots contingent has emerged that strongly advocates building additional ice space. They will be at City Hall on Monday night to press their case to council.
They are correct. The scheduling pressure from figure skating, ringette, speed skating and hockey groups is becoming legitimately claustrophobic. We have a demonstrated need.
Let's pause for a moment to stress that user groups should never be put on the hook for the capital costs of such facilities. A moderate rental fee is appropriate, but they shouldn't have to take out the mortgage to build the thing (yes it has been suggested). It is City Hall's job to provide the cultural and recreational facilities that will engage and retain a happy set of citizens and we all have to accept the tax bill for that. The benefits are massive, even if you choose to not be a user. Your doctor or teacher or plumber is.
This group's excellent point is the cart, however, and the reconstruction of Kin 1 is the horse.
We have done well gathering some snazzy rink events (summer and winter), but we have pretty much bumped our head on the city's capacity to progress. Another nondescript ice surface will not help.
The 2015 Canada Winter Games is the game-changer. With the one-time-only injection of outside money this city will get for CWG15, it would not only be folly but moon-barking insane to pass up the chance to hit the reset button on the outmoded Kin Centres.
"What we have is good enough; events will come anyway," you say? The facilities are too good elsewhere. We have substantial bite on a high-provincial/low-national level but those teeth are decaying.
"They won't want to come here anyway," you say? We have had enough measured success to know what we can realistically expect, and attracting events is every community's job. It makes your tax bill smaller and your community sharper.
"But it will put the Kin Centres out of commission while they do the renos," you say? So small a pain for so massive a gain.
We will likely never get The Brier (men's national curling crown) due to population base but virtually all other national/international curling events are open for business.
Likewise, the crowds the International Ice Hockey Federation expects from North America have put the World Junior Hockey Tournament squarely in the major market realm.
But the World Women's Hockey Tournament? The Under-18 World Championship? Allan Cup Senior Men's tourney? Female hockey's Clarkson Cup? Olympic development challenges? Game on.
Short-track speed skating? Bring it. (And just imagine if our long track was brought up to snuff.)
The Canadian Figure Skating Championships or the Skate Canada Challenge? If (with respect) Moncton and Regina can do those, so can we, if we build on what we already have.
The number of facilities is not the deciding factor, their quality is. You need multiple, preferably conjoined rinks (CN Centre, plus) that have ample seating space, commodious dressing rooms, effective equipment storage, attractive hospitality features, high-grade technical systems, telecommunications abilities, etc...
We are in the facilities game, but playing on the third line. Each of these major events would bring millions of dollars in economic spinoff plus better skills to our sport groups and service sector. That's the trophy we are after. We've been tapped on the shoulder to take a shift on the first line in 2015, so let's score with it.
However, there is another key question: where to built it? People throw the Kin 4 idea around like no closet in College Heights has a hockey bag; like the Elksentre or the Coliseum wouldn't be better suited with a second sheet (single rinks are less economically and physically efficient).
Or perhaps Kin 4 does indeed make the most sense.
In that case, council should study the pros and cons of doing both. Not eventually, that's a no-brainer, but right now. Do not deviate from the Kin 1 plans, but since the crews and equipment will be there anyway, could a Kin 4 also be built at the same time for relatively low cost?
There is time to study the issue, as long as the minds at City Hall stay focused but flexible.
The minds of the grassroots group need to be open as well, though, to the reality of Kin 1 being job one.
