Thursday, February 23, 2012

Re: Councillors refuse amphitheatre plan - February 22, 2012

Read the article here

To the editor of the Sudbury Star,
Published February 29, 2012

So, in addition to the ill thought out vendor area, the new Grace Hartman Amphiteatre does not have enough fixed seating to attract major events? I looked back at a news article in a competing publication from April 1, 2010 and found that " Paul Loewenberg, artistic director for Northern Lights Festival Boreal, said for his festival, a larger amount of seating would be necessary to be able to attract higher quality performers." I also noted that councillor Ted Callaghan " fought for another 400 hard seats since that is what he said user groups wanted".

But architect Paul Castellan indicated that more seating "would compromise the look of the site" and Brian Amott, a senior partner with consultant Novita, said "most user groups, including the larger festivals, were supportive of what seating was proposed"

Where is Novita today, now that larger festivals don't want to rent the venue due to unsatisfactory seating? Why are we once again hung out to dry because the words of an out of town consultant meant more than those of local people who know the issues? What good is a nice looking site if no one wants to use it and we end up funding it out of tax dollars?

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