DoyleG Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 Comment by shooters rep is a bit funny ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Soccer fields mean shooters get boot By ANDREA SANDS, CITY HALL BUREAU A world-class Edmonton shooting range will be fired off city land in favour of building a sports area for young soccer, baseball and football players, a city committee decided yesterday. "The parents will not allow their children to play soccer anywhere near an area where firearms are being discharged," said Ivan Magdee, vice-president of the Edmonton Minor Soccer Association. But the director-at-large of the Northern Alberta Shooters Association argued that's "dead wrong. "Are we talking about a multi-sports facility or are we talking about a power grab here on the part of the soccer association to try to get more fields at the expense of the other sports in this community?" said Lance Grainger. "I sound a little irritated at that, because I am." But the community services committee rejected Grainger's arguments that the Strathcona Shooting Range, on 50 Street between Mill Woods and Beaumont, could share the land with young soccer players. The committee voted to end the city's $1-a-year lease with the Northern Alberta Shooters Association in September 2005 to make way for about 20 soccer fields, three football fields and two baseball diamonds. But the committee will have city officials ask communities around Edmonton to help find space for a new range. The Northern Alberta Shooters Association estimates the move will cost roughly $2 million to $3 million. The committee heard numerous world champions and national team members - including Olympic trapshooter Susan Nattrass - have trained at the range, one-of-a-kind in Canada. It was built for the 1978 Commonwealth Games. The city will have to clean up soil contaminated by lead from the range, and hopes to conduct an environmental assessment so cleanup can start this fall. The Edmonton Minor Soccer Association could start building fields south of the shooting range this fall, since shots are not fired to the south and that part of the land isn't believed to be contaminated. http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonNews/es.es-06-24-0025.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 I don't really know shooting ranges, so what the hell is the deal here??? Allez l'Impact! Allez les Rouges! Allons Ultras! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimglow Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 That is great news. Two birds with one stone Mimglow, Ottawa _________________________ Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattbin Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 It's hard to believe that they can't find room in Alberta for a shooting range. The shooters do have a point, but I never like the idea of $1 per year leases (for anyone, even soccer pitches). Call it what it is: a government subsidy. Dang thum cowboys out there! Allez les Rouges, M@ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattbin Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 It's hard to believe that they can't find room in Alberta for a shooting range. The shooters do have a point, but I never like the idea of $1 per year leases (for anyone, even soccer pitches). Call it what it is: a government subsidy. Dang thum cowboys out there! Allez les Rouges, M@ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoyleG Posted June 28, 2003 Author Share Posted June 28, 2003 quote:Originally posted by mattbin It's hard to believe that they can't find room in Alberta for a shooting range. The shooters do have a point, but I never like the idea of $1 per year leases (for anyone, even soccer pitches). Call it what it is: a government subsidy. Dang thum cowboys out there! Allez les Rouges, M@ The problem is the large development that's been occuring in the city. It's gotten to a point where Edmonton is now joined at the hip with many of the bedroom communities. If they want a range, they would have to go at least an hour outside the city to find a reasonable site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimglow Posted June 28, 2003 Share Posted June 28, 2003 Perhaps they should move out of the country? There's a gun-toting nation just to the south of us... (ooops, is that too political for this board?) Mimglow, Ottawa _________________________ Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoyleG Posted July 1, 2003 Author Share Posted July 1, 2003 Here's the editorial from today's Sun about the controversy. Legacy is gone Whenever organizers of major sporting events try to pry taxpayers' dollars out of our politicians they invariably stress the permanent legacies they leave behind. A glittering necklace of world-class stadiums - or athletes villages that miraculously transform themselves into university dorms at the conclusion of the event - are offered up to the wide-eyed elected officials. And no better example of this was the Commonwealth Games. In many ways this wonderful fortnight in the summer of 1978 was Edmonton's coming-of-age party. We showed the world we were a world-class city ready to take on any challenges thrown at us. The games also left behind an incredible infrastructure of sporting facilities that were meant by the far-sighted political leaders of the day to be lasting and functional legacies of the games, especially in a city that has shamefully and cynically torn down most of its important historic buildings in the name of tawdry plate glass and steel progress. Now it appears the shallowness and lack of vision of what passed for civic government in the past is about to repeat itself. Council's community services committee's unfortunate decision not to renew the lease on the Commonwealth Games shooting ranges in the city's extreme southeast - and effectively end the existence of this unique and world-class facility - is tragic to say the least. It's further confirmation that a world-class city like Edmonton is being run by a small-town council. Like Commonwealth Stadium, Skyreach Centre, the LRT, the bowling greens and the velodrome, the ranges were meant to serve the needs of the city for many decades to come. Now they are to be replaced by soccer fields and ball diamonds, a commodity of which the city appears already to have an endless supply. And of course, the spectre that guns are somehow evil by their very presence has been raised as one of the red herring arguments as to why the ranges must go. The committee's request that the city administration negotiate with other communities in the capital region to accommodate the shooters is equally as spurious and insulting. The ranges were bought and paid for largely with money from senior levels of government to be left behind for Edmontonians long after the Commonwealth athletes left town. To wantonly destroy them for soccer fields is akin to historic vandalism. But Edmonton councils have a long and unenviable record of failing to recognize anything but the most expedient and simplistic way out. Can you imagine what fun they would have if they ever got their hands on the Legislature grounds? Send a letter to the editor. mailto:letters@edm.sunpub.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoyleG Posted July 1, 2003 Author Share Posted July 1, 2003 Should note that the editorial was written by Neil Waugh. This is a guy who writes about both politics and sports (mainly outdoorsman). Either way, he's a lousy writer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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