By Cheryl Jahn

Civic Arenas

Arenas won’t open. Yet

Jul 15, 2020 | 3:55 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Those who use the City’s ice arenas are miffed at the decision not to re-open the Kin Centres on August 4th, as presented during a Council meeting on June 15th.

“For me, it sucks, right? I can’t go on the ice or coach kids,” says Kris Joyce, goalie coach and player. “But for kids who have ice plans, this is a big year for so many kids. They’ve been locked in their house for four months. It’s brutal, really.”

But Mayor Lyn Hall says the August 4th date was tentative. In fact, the word “tentative” was used three times in the first minute of the June 15th presentation to Council.

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He says all civic sporting facilities are heavily subsidized by the taxpayer, to the tune of 40% to 50%. In other words, if it costs a user $10 to use the pool, for example, the City spends an additional $4 to $5 to top up the cost of running the facility. And that number would grow exponentially with the rules from the Provincial Health Office.

“Now we add on the pandemic and we add on Phase Three re-opening and the protocols that we have to follow, we’re increasing that subsidization to meet that cost.”

With the additional measures that subsidy would jump to 70%.

However, Joyce says private arenas are operating and other civic arenas have opened, such as the Rutland Twin Arena in Kelowna.