Apparently I know nothing about the arena

According to the wizard Wade (aka w_izzard) I've been told that I know nothing about the #yegarena deal and that I don't have the intelligence to make a smart come-back to his childish comments.

More like I don't have the time to deal with a closed minded fool but... here I am wasting my time just so that I can prove my point. I hope Wizzy enjoys the read, because after this I have no need to waste any more time on his insane cat calls and insults.

So Wade, here are some simple facts for you. You can start reading here, which is the basics of the arena timeline, researched in depth by Mimi... Once you read through all of those posts, you should be able to notice a pattern of deception by several members of city council. Like the promises of a plebiscite being called, and how no taxpayer money will ever be spent, and how nothing will happen until all of the money is in place. The list of lies and deceptions are huge. If you can't see that, then maybe someone else can explain it to you.

With that said, lets note how around 700 million dollars of our money will be used to create this arena, and the required infrastructure that it will need to support it.

Lets keep in mind that within that 700 million dollars is the money that Katz is putting in, around 100 million dollars. But wait!!.. That's really our money he is borrowing from us (reducing the amount we have available to borrow from) at an extremely low interest rate. Why is he using out money instead of his, like we were lead to believe? Well, the tax advantages to him are huge... and the poor billionaire doesn't have to use his money.

So now that we understand that literally every penny being used to create the Katz Palace is really all taxpayer money in one form or another, lets get on to the other issues.

We are told this will be OUR building, not his. Yet with OUR building, we get no money for any naming rights. We also get no income from him, or any tenants that may move into the complex. We get no money from any events held, no matter what they are. So concerts or Oilers games or anything else, we get nothing. We also get nothing from any parking revenues, and we will get nothing from any form of food or beverage sales. Pretty much anything that generates a penny of revenue, we get nothing. Speaking of concerts, they generally come with large convoys of semi-trailer trucks. Those concert folks LOVE going to Rexall because they come in right off the Yellowhead, and they have the designed moving room within the parking lot to do their thing. Course, the arena downtown will have none of that, and the traffic tie ups in the area will be extreme. But hey, who cares if traffic downtown is all fucked up. It really can't get any worse than it is now, right? (rolls eyes)

We do pay him a huge amount for the privilege of advertising our city in our building.

OH WAIT!! Lets not forget that WE have the right to use OUR building for FOUR WEEKS out of the year! How awesome is that!!! But what can we do with that time. WE can't have a concert... WE can't host any event that would involve charging people a fee... Hmmm... maybe we can use it to offer free face painting lessons to kids. That would be cool. Just as long as we don't charge the kids anything, or the parents that will bring them in.

And then we have the glorious CRL side. Where the property AND education taxes will be diverted so that we can pay for OUR building. Meh... who cares a rats ass about the loss of 80 million dollars for education. Sure as hell the kids don't need it and those grossly over paid teachers don't deserve it. They have some nerve now bitching about huge classroom sizes and kids not getting the attention they deserve. Piss on that, our billionaire friend MUST have that money. (rolls eyes again)

BUT WAIT! We have a 35 year deal!!! WooHOO!!!.. oh.. the CRL thing? The law says that the money borrowed must be paid back totally within 20 years. Not 35. Any balance owing is due and payable immediately. But we have 20 years to do that, no big deal right? Well, I do believe the city has said that it generally takes 10 years before the proper funds start coming in so we really are stuck with the hope and prayer that the next 10 years will pay for it. Historically speaking, all over North America, this never happens. But hey, we can do it when no one else has.

The city also says that the dollars from the CRL will pay for it all. But if those tax dollars are being diverted to the arena, where will the tax dollars come to provide the required services to the area? Blah... no one in the CRL zone will ever need the cops or fire department or anything else. Right? Yeah, sure Wade, dream on. This means that the loss of those taxes will have to be made up by everyone else in the city. Screw the seniors and others on fixed incomes that won't be able to afford the increases... After all, they are all just scum sucking low lifes that don't deserve to be here anyway, since they can't pay their own way. Run the suckers all out of town... that's gotta be the answer for sure! ... *coughs

And then we have that glorious ticket tax. Normally when a tax is imposed to pay for something, once its all paid off then the tax should be removed. But no, not in this case. Not only will it NOT be removed, but there is also a sweetheart deal in place where Katz only has to pay a FIXED amount of dollars from things collected. So if he has to pay say 5 million a year, but collects 8 million a year, he gets to directly pocket the difference, instead of it being applied towards paying down the debt. And remember, this tax does not expire.

So lets see... we have a cost to taxpayers of around the 700 million dollar mark. Now its been estimated that dear Mr. Katz will bring in around 700 million dollars of profits from everything. OUR building, with OUR money, and we don't get a single dime of those profits.

In essence, this deal covers ONE POINT FOUR BILLION DOLLARS. All of it lost to taxpayers.

Meh... not like 1.4 billion dollars is worth anything anyway... won't do a damn thing to fix potholes, or neighborhood needs, or anything else such as anything LRT related.

Now I know you will sit back and quote all kinds of city reports that suggest otherwise. Those clever reports that were specifically designed to be biased and to mislead people with false and/or unrealistic facts. But hey, don't bitch to me and say I don't know what I'm talking about with respect to those reports. The pros that know that area, have already stated the reports are out to lunch. So lets screw the pros too, because they clearly don't know their ass from a hole in the ground either.

Yes dear Wade... you are 100% correct. I know nothing about the arena deal. You win... Oh, by the way. Do you have kids? Tell me, how happy are you knowing their future is screwed. Because its people like YOU that will be doing it, not people like me.

Have a good life.