Edmonton – The day after city council made its final vote in favour of the downtown arena, Mayor Stephen Mandel didn’t hold back his feelings about the councillors who opposed the deal.
“Some councillors decided they want to grandstand and make a big deal out of things. It’s very disappointing. They don’t care about Edmonton. They care about their own personal, whatever it is, agenda, which isn’t about our city,” says Mandel.
During Mandel’s live interview on Thursday’s Global Edmonton Morning News, he took dead aim at Councillor Kerry Diotte who was one of three councillors who voted against the arena deal.
“His three years on council have been really quite irrelevant, and he could have been a big contributor but he’s done nothing to contribute to the success of the city,” said Mandel.
Immediately after Wednesday’s vote Diotte explained why he opposed the deal.
“People in this city are not in favour of this funding deal. City council, the majority, ignored their wishes. I could not support this. There’s not enough money in it from the Katz group,” said Diotte.
Diotte has called a news conference for Thursday afternoon regarding his plans for 2013. There is speculation Diotte will announce he’s going to run for mayor in the upcoming fall election.
“Hope that citizens see through the façade but that’ll be up to them if that’s what he does,” said Mandel.
Mandel still hasn’t announced if he’ll seek a fourth term as Edmonton’s mayor. He says he’ll make that decision “fairly soon.”
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