Christchurch City Council has voted in favour of buying seven hectares of land in the central business district for a new AMI Stadium.Have any of the councillors who voted on this measure actually looked into the economics of building stadiums? The literature is clear that stadiums are not an economic winner, the councillors would only have to look at the problems with the Dunedin stadium to get an ideas of the kinds of issues that building such things can raise. Just how much thought did they put into this vote?
The decision is part of the draft annual plan for the next financial year and will now now be open for public consultation.
The draft plan includes spending on 10 major council owned facilities damaged in the earthquake on 22 February 2011.
Major earthquake damage has meant the old AMI Stadium cannot be used. A temporary stadium, which could be used for up to four years, opened at Addington in March to host rugby matches.
The proposed new stadium would be on another plot of land and would allow for the building of a 35,000 seat facility that could host test matches.
The council is proposing a 7.47% rates increase for 2012/ 2013, including a 2% increase to pay for the rebuild or repair of council facilities.
Tuesday 10 April 2012
Not a good idea
From RadioNZ,
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2 comments:
This Council has absolutely no sense of priorities.
I think it is becoming clearer that the council has lost the plot on what they should be doing with regard to the rebuild. Stadiums and other grand plans are not the answer to the city's problems. Affordable housing that people can access quickly seems a much more important priority. And then they have to think about the best way forward for the city's rebuild and trying to control it from the centre isn't the answer. Central and local government is more and more looking like the problem. People can make their own decisions about what to do with their property if only they are allowed to.
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