New arena won't be ready by 2004, mayor predicts

Sault Ste. Marie's new arena is unlikely to be finished during 2004, Mayor John Rowswell says.

"My feeling is that I don't see the arena being built by 2004," the mayor says in his weekly column, posted this morning on SooToday's editorial page.

Rowswell says $7 million in private-sector funding must still be located and he raises the possibility that Soo Greyhounds could ultimately be eliminated from the final package.

"We have received federal and provincial funding for $7.4 million dollars on a $21.4 million dollar project. So we're only about one-third of the way to the goal," Rowswell says.

"The arena review committee and staff have been charged with the responsibility of going out for proposals to see if there are any private sector individuals that, in conjunction with the Greyhound organization, or not, might have interest in putting money into the new arena.

Greyhounds could be removed from deal

"We have to find $7 million dollars from the private sector. I don't think we are right now looking at people to actually come and build the arena.

"That's the impression I'm getting and that may change as time goes on. We need to be sure that we've the private sector money lined up and understand the terms and conditions in which the private sector will work with us.

"This could be the Greyhounds partially, it could be all the Greyhounds or it could be eliminating Greyhounds participation."

Mayor still wants a trade show component

Other unresolved issues include how to pay for the municipal contribution to the project, which could increase taxes by as much as two percent, and how to include a trade show component in the project.

"We're trying to explore ways on how to fund that additional $5 million to $6 million to do trade show capabilities," Rowswell says.

"We're trying to look at all possible funding sources including a ticket surcharge possibility."

Winter Cities kickoff

In other news, the Mayor says a kick-off news conference for the upcoming Winter Cities conference will happen Tuesday morning.

And he says he's two weeks behind in responding to E-mails sent to him through SooToday.com, as he tries to catch up following his two-week vacation.

"It usually takes three to seven days to process the E-mail coming in from SooToday. But I will respond to all readers' questions," the mayor says.

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