Signing on to support

BY SABRINA BYRNES

A petition is now underway with the hope of showing city council that Sudburians do indeed want the proposed Multi-use Recreational Complex.

"The goal is ... to get as many people as possible on it, and to print off every single copy and then take it to council," said Paul Thususka of Skater's Edge and partner of Open Ice Power Skating and Hockey Development. Skater's Edge is a retail store, while Open Ice is a hockey development program.

Along with business partner Derek Erickson, the two have created an online petition through their website, www.open-ice.ca .  The pair hope to collect thousands of signatures to take to council.

Currently abou 850 signatures have made it on to the document. So far the petition has only been sent to families of his students at Open Ice, so Thususka says he is encouraged by the number of signatures so far. He is looking forward to the list expanding once the petition is sent to hockey organizations and figure skating clubs.

Thususka said there's been a lot of negative buzz about the facility after the recent poll by Rick Bartolucci that revealed Sudburians weren't in favour of the sports complex.

"Everybody's talking about roads nowadays," Thususka said. "Where do roads fit in on the same budget sheet as health and wellness and recreation?" he asked.

"They shouldn't even be on the same table as far as discussion goes. One is completely separate from the other."
Thususka said that this multi-use facility will be great for the community.

"Not everybody plays hockey, not everybody is going to use the facility. (But) I believe that if you want to start a progressive, positive, healthy-based lifestyle and healthy-based community, you need the facilities."

One of the major reasons that sparked this petition was the situation regarding ice time after the recent fire at the McClelland Arena.

"The system has gone into disarray in the last three weeks because of one arena going down," he stated.

Thususka questions what will happen if another arena goes down and points out the fact that 11 arenas within the City of Greater Sudbury are older than the McClelland arena, with the Sudbury Arena being built in 1951.

"It's a necessity for ice time. There's not enough ice for all the associations," he said. All associations have had to make cut-backs on ice time after the fire. He noted there are children this year who won't be playing hockey because of that reason.
With new facility, Thususka said large tournaments can take place.

"If you want to host world class events, you need world class facilities."

Thususka commented on the facilities in southern Ontario, and how they are state-of-the-art, with automatic doors, swimming pools, restaurants and all the advertising from larger companies.

"It's kind of a shame when we go to southern Ontario, and we look like a bunch of country bumpkins walking into arenas."

Thususka plans on keeping the petition open until the end of the month before presenting it to council.

He said he hopes that the signatures will have an impact on their decision.

He encourages children to vote as well because they will be the ones using the facility as well.

Thususka said that a "no" response from council is just not acceptable. "There has to be some reason behind it. If fundraising is the key then that's what has to be done."

Anyone interested in signing in the petition can do so at www.open-ice.ca . There is also a paper petition at Skaters Edge on LaSalle Boulevard.