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EDMONTON - The three-year debate about building a $450-million downtown arena played out in microcosm Tuesday in an angry, funny, frustrating, wacky day-long marathon of civic theatre that pitted the risk-averse against risktakers, younger against older, small town traditionalists vs. urban visionaries.The city #39;s non-statutory public hearing was a fascinating window into the conflicted soul o football fixtures f a city at a crossroads between its small-town past and what many hope will be a more progressive, cosmopolitan future. It was messy, it was noisy - especially during a brief demonstration by members of Occupy Edmonton - but it was nothing if not heartfelt, from 9: 30 a.m. start to late-evening finish.The debate cleaved in an uneven sort of way along the fault line of age. Older interveners football fixtures tended to express fear, astonishment and full-blown rage at the notion of tax dollars being deployed to what they view as the benefit of billionaire Oilers owner Daryl Katz.-If this is not an egregious use of tax dollars, I don #39;t know what is,- said Jay Scherer, a University of Alberta professor who specializes in the business of sport.Margaret Saunter said the exercise had Edmonton City Hall football fixtures playing Robin Hood, -only in reverse,- with the city taking from average citizens and giving to its richest resident - Katz.Another senior, Enneke Lorber, told council: -We taxpayers are not a bank.-Former Edmonton mayor Cecil Purves scolded the council for what he clearly believed was its sloppy funding formula and insufficient due diligence. And all that despite nearly three years of work on the football fixtures project.-You #39;ve got a tenant who #39;s already a billionaire,- Purves said of the deal in which Katz will pay $5.5 million in annual rent payments for 30 years, but retain all revenues from all events at the new arena. -You #39;re going to hand him a new gold mine.-Many young and older speakers actually agreed on the reality of Edmonton #39;s blighted downtown, but they sure disagreed on what football fixtures to do about it.-Downtown #39;s been sinking since World War II,- Lorne Humphreys told city council, suggesting it was, in essence, a lost cause. It certainly is not worth spending any public money to fix, in Humphrey #39;s estimation, particularly if that money were to prop up the wealth of an entrepreneur like Katz.At one point, members of Occupy Edmonton, who are protesting something or other w football fixtures hile camping out on Jasper Avenue, disrupted things, chanting: -What does democracy look like? This is what democracy looks like.-The thing is, it was a democratic exercise, and surprisingly gripping, at that.As the drama played out, Bruce Saville, the chair of the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation and a member of the Edmonton Investors Group that sold the club to Katz for $200 million in July football fixtures 2008, joined the parade of speakers. True to form, he spoke bluntly about the value of the arena project for Edmonton #39;s future.-I know that if (EIG) still owned the team we would have been here already, saying that we would not play in Northlands Coliseum (Rexall Place) beyond the current lease (which expires in 2014) and we would be saying we must have a new downtown arena,- Saville said. -An football fixtures d we would not be bringing $100 million to the table, we would be bringing zero dollars to the table.-Edmonton is on the verge, with the correct decision here, of becoming a world-class, urban and cosmopolitan city that simply no longer needs an agricultural society playing a major role,- Saville said of the notfor-profit agency Northlands that operates city-owned Rexall Place. -But this is not ab football fixtures out Northlands.-It is also not about the Edmonton Oilers, Daryl Katz, the Katz Group, Rexall Sports or concerts or ice hockey. It #39;s about an iconic downtown arena and entertainment district that will make a new, revitalized city core, just as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver have experienced with new downtown arenas.-Do we want to be a world-class city? Do we want to be grouped with Montreal, T football fixtures oronto and Vancouver? Or do we want to be grouped with Regina and Hamilton and Windsor and Moncton?-Any of you who do not see the wisdom of this project, any of you who vote against this development, shame on you, shame on you.-In response to a question from Coun. Dave Loken, Saville also told council Katz would not move the Oilers if the arena project was voted down.-But he #39;d sell (the Oilers football fixtures ) and there #39;s nobody here who would buy them,- Saville said.Ryan Weeks, who lived several years in London and returned to Edmonton changed by the experience, conjured the city #39;s derogatory nickname, -Deadmonton,- in supporting the downtown arena.-I believe you will make the right decision,- he told city council. -The decision that moves this city forward, the decision that rids us of that football fixtures awful moniker, the decision that will make my kids want to raise their kids here.-The decision to move forward with the arena project and show the whole world why we truly are the City of Champions.Jeff Hendrick, a local artist, delivered an eloquent, if angry harangue at those councillors, like Tony Caterina and Linda Sloan, who have been consistent opponents of the project, largely for financial football fixtures reasons.-I don #39;t have to be an economic expert,- Hendrick said. -I already pay taxes for a D-minus downtown.-And so it went, one generation giving council failing grades for financial acumen, another dangling the carrot of popular approval should it pass the test of approving the arena project for the benefit of the downtown and the city as a whole.By day #39;s end, it remained fairly clear t football fixtures he vote would be a victory for city building, even as it seemed, to many, a reckless financial leap of faith.jmackinnon@edmontonjournal.comTwitter.com/rjmackinnon Play Fantasy Hockey, now with Pro Leagues! Updated Oct 26, 8:59 am EDT football fixtures
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