What is the rush?

Letter to the Editor

 Why was the report on the iconic West Ferris Arena based on demolishing it, instead of being based on how to save and possibly repurpose it?

 The original report was completely one-sided. It only looked at what it would cost to keep running the building strictly as an ice rink and nothing else. They never gave council or the public a real look at non-ice options.

 Maybe the end result turns out to be tearing the whole thing down. But even if that’s where we land, council owes the citizens a proper study first, so everyone actually has all the information.

 The people of West Ferris who grew up with this arena deserve real answers, not one-sided assumptions. There are so many potential uses this building could be used for or even allowing a non-profit the opportunity to make this historical building into something else for the community.

 I’ll bet that repairing it for another use would cost a lot less than building a new facility. But instead of giving us complete data, we are being given worst-case assumptions.

 Council should delay their demolition vote until they do a proper report asking what cost and steps could be taken to keep the building operational for other uses.

 And then make sure that information is made public at an open meeting where people could actually give their opinion. What is the rush? This is another case of needing to "do it right the first time."

 Yours truly,

Bill Vrebosch