Re: Letter on curling club by Jan Bowman:
Letters about the curling club certainly helps raising awareness of the travesty that is happening to one of the most affordable recreation activities presently offered, with no current subsidy from the city.
It leads you to wonder why the city planners/administrators have lots of money when it wants a new facility, such as the new City Hall Centre for $75 million for the first phase, but there is not money in the budget to subsidize a new curling building?
To set the record straight, the curling club is paying a large part of the costs and have never been a burden to the taxpayer but do need some help this time. I will admit it is due to a lack of planning 25 years ago by both the city and the club.
If 2,200 people use the facility every week, as you say, I have to ask if you done your research as to how many people use the other city-owned facilities each week. Did you ask how much the city subsidizes these facilities?
How much annually do all the following require in annual subsidies after the capital costs have been paid by the taxpayer?
l seven hockey arenas
l 86 sports fields
l 93 ball diamonds
l 68 public outdoor skating
l 250,000 square foot (Collicutt Centre)
l 100,000 square foot (G.H. Dawe Centre)
l 50,000 square foot outdoor pool/splash park
l 25,000 square foot city operated aquatic facility (Michener Centre)
l 10 outdoor fitness equipment centres
Are the curlers second class citizens? After over 100 years of providing affordable recreation at no cost to the taxpayer?
You make a good point on the number of users so lets put it in perspective: 2,200 curlers out of 90,000 residents is just over two per cent. So curlers would be happy with two per cent of the recreation budget of $43.24 million. That, times two per cent equals $864,000 a year over the next 10 years. Remember, we never got any for the last 110 years. Just 10 years of our share of the budget and we could offer curling for free to all kids under 16 to keep them off the street.
I spoke about the Scotties and yes of course this takes place at the Centrium but who do you think brought this wonderful event back to Red Deer again? Yes, big surprise, it was the people (aka taxpayers) from the curling club. And just maybe we could have showcased a new facility at that time, as that is where the qualifying games are played, at the curling clubs across Canada.
About the curlers from other clubs around Red Deer, we have actually lost some curlers to them as it’s cheaper and they have better facilities.
Ms. Bowman, if you had done your homework you would know that nearly all the towns around Red Deer and across Canada subsidize their curling facilities with both capital and operating funds.
I may not have it all right but I hope you get the point this time! Maybe our community can realize that it is time to financially help a sport that has given a lot to their community for 100 years.
The taxpayers have mandated council and staff to manage many components of community living. Recreation is one component, that has over and over been shown to enrich and produce healthy community members.
The curling community is asking for help out of a dedicated recreation budget ... so, Ms. Bowman, why you would throw in a comment about the homeless is beyond my understanding.
Reg Radford.
Red Deer