Hey Calgary (Council and Administration)!
What gives? We’ve spent almost five years negotiating our move to the Scouts Hall (2140 Brownsea Drive NW), following the devastating collapse of the Fairview Arena way back in 2018 which has rendered our current facility unsafe. Now that we’re getting close, you’ve chosen to put up even more barriers.
- You’ve pushed through a heritage designation on a building constructed in 1967, bizarrely protecting a rusty concrete staircase – forcing delays and cost increases to redevelop the space into an accessible, vibrant community arts venue that will house Canada’s largest disability arts organization.
- You’ve denied our request to reimburse some part of the almost $2 million in tenant improvements that we invested in our current site in Fairview (a facility owned by the City of Calgary, like the Scouts Hall).
- You’ve then turned around and demanded that our charity cough up $1.6 million in less than nine months or else we’d have further delays on the construction work required for the Scouts Hall. (You’ve spent almost 4 years coming up with $4.5 million to do the base building upgrades since the Scouts Hall hadn’t really been touched since its opening – just saying.)
- And despite the fact that we’ve now raised almost $1.5 million, apparently that’s still not good enough because about $300,000 of that will come in installments over the next few years.
With the Scouts Building improvements and our plans to develop a new facility next door, we’re talking about more than $20 million being invested in the West Hillhurst community. This is about creating jobs, and a community resource that will have a direct impact on thousands of families throughout our beautiful city. And it’s about actually transforming City-owned assets so that they don’t sit vacant for long periods of time and can be of benefit to the broader citizenry.
We know we’re not a hockey team and this isn’t a hockey arena, but we think we’re pretty important too!
Can we talk? You can call me at 403.404.3174.
Learn more at heycalgary.ca
- A message from the National accessArts Centre
