Mayoral rivals each slam process that led to Exchange’s Cube stage

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This article was published 12/10/2010 (5832 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG – The new outdoor stage known as the Cube is a flawed performance space whose planners should have listened to entertainment experts, Mayor Sam Katz said at a mayoral forum today.

“I know a lot about lighting, as well as sound,” Katz said about the new city-owned Old Market Square stage during a noon-hour candidates’ forum on arts and culture at the Tom Hendry Theatre.

“The Cube itself looks really nice. Unfortunately, when you open up the curtain, there certainly is not adequate… space when it comes to the production of sound and lights.

“If someone had taken me out for a burger, I could have told them that right away…. Someone should have been talking more to musicians, stagehands or people in the entertainment industry,” he said.  “There are some definite flaws there.”

Katz made the remarks in response to audience member Tim Harding, a stage technician who charged that the Cube does not work as a stage, and that arts groups who were consulted on its design were ignored by the architects.

Candidate Judy Wasylycia-Leis took the opportunity to hammer home that all players and stakeholders should have been fully consulted.

“It goes to the heart of the issue at city hall right now, which is a lack of open consultation and decision-making that involves all the key players,” she said. “Something went wrong in this process, obviously.”

Meanwhile, Katz claims Wasylycia-Leis has already conceded his contention that property-tax increases will hurt low-income homeowners.

Over the weekend, tens of thousands of Winnipeg households received automated voice messages from Katz, urging voters to vote against Wasylycia-Leis on Oct. 27.

In the message, Katz said seniors and other people on fixed incomes would be hurt by Wasylycia-Leis’ proposal to raise property taxes two per cent a year, for four years. “People should not have to lose their homes,” he said in the message, prompting Wasylycia-Leis to accuse him of espousing “American-style” election tactics.

This afternoon, after the arts and culture forum, Katz told reporters his voicemail message was accurate and argued Wasylycia-Leis conceded as much on Oct. 1, when she proposed giving seniors a chance to defer property-tax payments.

Wasylycia-Leis dismissed Katz’s claim as spin.