Charles St GRT terminal redevelopment

[the_conestoga_guy]

I do think this is specific to certain groups. For example, nobody I know has ever been to a game, and likely would have to be reminded the rangers exist. Yes, they do have a dedicated following but that doesn’t represent the whole city. I’d even go so far as to say that the group which most finds the rangers to be important culturally is the establishment that has traditionally run the city.

As for similarly large/important cultural institutions, Octoberfest is an easy example, Elmira maple syrup festival. The rangers are not the only cultural institution.

A fair point. I do know multiple people that go to Rangers games regularly, but clearly it's not a majority of the population or anything close to that. Still, a larger demographic than, say, symphony fans, rock climbers or theatregoers.

Arguably the biggest "cultural event" in the region is the blues festival, depending on how one assesses the objectives of Oktoberfest visitors.

I feel like our collective understanding of the Aud is that it’s mostly a hockey venue. If/when it’s replaced, it would also be able to host other events like concerts and the like. So it’s not like it would be a solely dependant on hockey games to validate its existence. 

I can definitely appreciate it if someone doesn’t care about sports and music, though. I just think there are more than enough people in the Region who do that it makes the replacement of the Aud justifiable. 

To tie it back to this particular thread, I don’t think a multi-use arena is something that the Region is considering based on their EngageWR site. It seems like this site is destined to be condos with some multi-use rooms for community use included. Something like that is also certainly needed. I just think it’s waste of this unique site. Oh well.