While far from scientific, our website poll has turned up some interesting results when Credit Union CUPlex issues are the subject.
A recent poll asked if the field house should be scrapped from the plans. A record 96 votes were cast and the result was split, 60/40. Sixty per cent were opposed to dropping the field house from the project, and 40 per cent said it should be scrapped.
The previous week poll voters gave a resounding thumbs down to raising the City's Recreational and Cultural Capital Facility levy by $75 a year.
One interpretation is Battlefords residents want a field house, but they want someone other than taxpayers affected by the RCCF levy increase to pay for it. That increase was approved by city council last week, along with awarding of tenders for both the curling rink and the field house. The www.newsoptimist.ca poll notwithstanding, city officials cling to their view taxpayers are fully behind the CUPlex and will dish up the additional $75 without complaint.
This past week website visitors were asked if Battleford residents should be contributing more than the $1.6 million that has been pledged by their council in support of the project. The results were ambivalent with an almost 50/50 split. Seventy-one votes were cast with 52 per cent saying "yes" Battleford taxpayers should contribute more and 48 per cent nixing the notion.
The web site poll fails to reflect a frequent coffee break or end of the day chew the fat over a brew debate on that particular issue. In those discussions Battleford residents are often taken to task for piggy backing on North Battleford taxpayers.
There is no doubt Battleford residents will benefit from this facility, and they will use it, just as they now use the Kinsmen Aquatic Centre, various arenas and cultural facilities in the city. But, these residents also have their own recreational and cultural facilities to maintain and operate, within the budget of a smaller tax base. Some even argue that, since Battleford already has a curling rink, it just isn't prudent to be throwing taxpayer dollars behind building one across the river.
The fact this is a project under the legal auspices of the city alone cannot be overlooked. Would Battleford taxpayers consider it prudent for their council to become more deeply involved in a project over which they have no legal control? Probably not, and since the window for forming the regional partnerships first envisioned by multiplex supporters seems to have passed, it is unlikely the coffee row pressure to contribute more from Battleford's public coffers will bear fruit.
School children collecting spare change recently raised $6,000 for the Raise the Roof initiative. They are wearing their support for the project on their sleeves. That is exactly the venue were citizens on both sides of the river can demonstrate their support for the CUPlex, by getting behind a Raise the Roof initiative.
