Race City's parking lot is often a sea of sports and muscle cars as owners come out to race legally
Ald. Ric McIver is back for one more kick at the Race City can. The alderman for Ward 12 filed a notice of motion Wednesday asking City Council to honour Race City’s existing lease, which under its current terms is good until 2025. The City had told track owner Art Mackenzie he would have to vacate the premises spring of next year because he had violated the terms of his contract, which Mr. Mackenzie disputes.
This not Ald. McIver’s first motion in support of Race City. Back in January he asked Council to extend the lease. The vote was seven for and seven against, which resulted in its defeat as Mayor Dave Bronconnier sided with the opponents of the motion. Ald. Dale Hodges, thought to be a supporter of the motion, was sick and missed the meeting.
Now, Ald. McIver is back with a last ditch attempt to save the venerable racing facility, the largest of its kind in Western Canada. Race City opened in the early 1980s and has hosted a variety of national motorsport championships, including the Parts Canada Superbike Championship this past June. Mr. Mackenzie estimates at least a dozen businesses rely directly on the track for their revenue, such as Allen Berg Racing Schools. He says these businesses will be forced to relocate to other cities or close entirely if the second motion is defeated.
Ald. McIver’s motion notes that “Race City holds a lease that is scheduled until 2025 with The City of Calgary which is currently under dispute based on timing of renewals received and possibly other issues.”
Art Mackenzie, Race City owner
According to Mr. Mackenzie, he was late with a lease payment four or five years ago. He says his lease manager at the time, who is no longer with the City, told him the late payment was not a problem. And the City has cashed every cheque he written since then, he said.
The problem, he says, is a few years ago the department of waste and recycling decided it needed the Race City property to expand the Shepard Landfill, which is west of the track across 68 Street S.E. Mr. Mackenzie claims that the argument he violated his lease is just a trumped up excuse for the City to access the land sooner than it is entitled to. In his opinion, his lease is still valid and the City should honour it.
“I think it’s wonderful what Ric McIver is doing,” Mr. Mackenzie said. “I’m very happy my alderman is standing up for me and for motorsport enthusiasts in Calgary. His motion says they should honour the contract. It’s a simple issue, the City signed a contract and they should abide by that contract.”
Rick Fransecone, president of the Calgary Motorsport Association, echoes Mr. Mackenzie’s arguments. ”They’ve spun a web of deceit and lies, various people in City Hall,” and they should be held accountable, he said.
He adds that razing Race City will have some very serious negative consequences for all Calgarians. The motorsport facility, through its very popular Secret Street program, provides a place for drivers to race their cars. Mr. Fransecone says that experience across North America shows that without that outlet, street racing will become a serious problem and innocent people could be hurt or killed.
Safety is an important reason to keep the facility, says Ald. McIver. He says upwards of 800 drivers and their cars show up Friday nights for Secret Street. How many of those, he wonders, will be racing illegally on the street once Race City is gone?
But there are many other reasons to keep Race City, he adds.
“We need to believe that Calgary is better off with Race City. It provides family-oriented recreation for many families and many businesses in the southeast benefit when racers and fans come in from out of town,” he said.
Council will vote on the motion at Monday’s meeting. Ald. McIver is hoping to Ald. Diane Colley-Urquhart, who is currently running for the Progress Conservatives in an Alberta by-election that is schedule for the same night, will be there to vote again in support of Race City.
If not, and aldermen vote as they did in January, the motion will be defeated. And that will be Race City’s absolute last kick at the can.
Related posts:
- VIDEO: RACE CITY SURVIVES CITY COUNCIL VOTE, ALD. McIVER'S MOTION PASSES 8-7 Race City's popular Secret Street program will continue for another...
- VIDEO: FIGHT OVER RACE CITY HEATS UP IN ANTICIPATION OF MONDAY'S COUNCIL VOTE TO SAVE RACE TRACK Bryan Macdonald, an admitted former street racer, waits in line...
- OTHERS' MISFORTUNES MAY BRING GOOD LUCK FOR RACE CITY Race cars in front of the stands on the oval...
- VIDEO: RACE CITY NEGOTIATES 2-YEAR REPRIEVE FROM CITY HALL Race City’s uncertain future appears to be a little brighter today after...
- CITY HALL TRIES TO IMPOSE 3,000% RENT INCREASE ON RACE CITY…AND RELATED NONSENSE By Markham Hislop, Editor Has City Hall declared war on...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
It’s great that both Alderman McIvor and SE Calgary News are keeping the Race City issue in the spotlight. The City, and Waste Services in particular seem to have taken a very heavy handed approach to Race City, with no attempt to create a win-win scenario, and little in the way of explanation for why the run-off ponds supposedly required can’t be integrated with the track, which already has preserved marsh and pond habitat within the site.
It’s a shame that the only argument that seems valid to the public for preserving Race City is that it keeps a lot of racing off the streets, but it is true. Even so, if the City were going to force the closure of any other private business serving thousands of customers, that in itself good reason for public concern – and the City would certainly not close a public arena or sporting facility serving thousands without lengthy and in-depth public debate, and a plan for replacement.
It’s worth pointing out that besides the large number of car enthusiasts mentioned in the article who bring their cars out to the Secret Streets drags and autocross weekly, that nearly every day from mid-April to mid-October sees the track in use from various car clubs, schools, and private competitive events, the vast majority of which see locals and visitors from across western Canada bringing out everything from plain-Jane sedans and coupes, to motorcycles, sports and muscle cars, to dedicated race machinery. Quite literally thousands of drivers a year who make use of the facility. Most of whom will have no other outlet than the streets, because no facility of this sort exists within a day’s drive of Calgary.
We had our track closed down a few years back,Langley speedway.
There have been several young people killed racing on the street since
then.Please dont close your racing facility,it wood be a very big loss and
very,very,very,costly to replace.I live in Langley B,C. I am 74 years old and
I miss the racing very much. Yours tuly Dave Angus.
Alderman McIvor should be our damm MAYOR!, guy is SO good at what he does it’s incredible!. Not just fighting for race city but various other things… I applaud that guy in SO many ways!!!
But even a guy as smart as that should know the horse is dead when it comes to Race City.
PLUS.. any of you ever lived or been near Glenmore and Barlow on a summer Friday night??.. I live down there and TRUST me, from 11:00pm to 1:00am there is NON-STOP street racing. Don’t even effin tell me secret street keeps it off the streets.
Art knows the City will be giving him ZERO dollars for the land. So go ahead.. support what YOU think is the track. but we all know you are supporting “Art getting every last dime out of it before it closes”.
read that, liked it, posted it for you as well
Ride em, the property has always belonged to the city, it’s not a question of him getting money for the land. As I read the lease and from comments by Art, he is actually on the hook to return the property back to its original state. The bill could be around $3 million. No question Art benefits financially if RC sticks around, only if because he doesn’t have to pony up the money for a few more years. But that is not the main reason SECN has been behind Race City. Yes, I love motorsports and I do think Secret Street helps cut down (though not eliminate) street racing. The big reason though is that City Hall bureaucrats have treated Art shabbily and, in my opinion, broken the lease agreement. But they have a big legal dept. at City Hall, so they are basically daring Art to take them to court. A game of chicken they’re most likely to win. That’s a poor way for our municipality to treat a local business.
Markham