30 Jul Saving TUBCED: fewer rinks at 2-1/2 times the cost

A wave of sentimentality swept over Halifax City Hall last night, and when the tide receded, Council had rejected a staff recommendation to build four new hockey rinks for $15.8 million, in favour of a “community” proposal to build just three rinks for $39.0 million—nearly two-and-a-half times as much money for 25 percent less rink.

It was all in the name of saving TUBCED, The Ugliest Building Cobb Ever Designed, also known as the Halifax Forum. It’s not just an eyesore we’re preserving here. The Forum is a repository of Halifax history and culture. Mohammed Ali fought there once. (Well, actually, he “sparred” there. We know for sure he stepped inside the building, anyway.) Reba McIntyre sang there. Think of the impression of our fair capital city she must have come away with.

When revenue from the facility is taken into account, the net cost of the chosen option over 25 years will be nearly three times that of the rejected staff recommendation, while providing 25 percent fewer skating opportunities.

The vote will also save the Forum’s bingo operation. In the rest of the province, residents put on bingo nights to maintain public services like fire halls, that cash-strapped counties can’t afford. In cash-flush HRM, council subsidizes a public building so residents can play bingo.

Don’t bother to think about what taxpayers, or even the municipality, might have done with the $23.2 million council decided to squander on saving the Forum. It’s only money, after all.

Here are the gory details, from page 10 of the staff report:

Please remember the vote the next time some Halifax scold recoils in horror at the cost of subsidizing a rural pulp mill here, a rural ferry there.