Two years ago, the then VP party secretary Philipp Eichinger failed halfway with his plan for a curling hall for Steyr. At that time, around two million euros were budgeted for a federal performance center (BLZ) for the eight clubs across Austria that indulge in Olympic stone pushing and ice scrubbing.
According to Steyr’s Mayor Markus Vogl (SP), the construction costs for the year-round cold store should have increased to at least three to four million euros. And Eichinger’s lobbying with his party friends in Vienna and Linz should also have fallen on fertile ground for Vogl: “Curling is the sport with the most TV viewers at the Olympic Games. We will apply for the second BLZ location in eastern Austria.”
Critics of this highly questionable project worth millions for a fringe sport in times of climate change see a “dirty deal” at the taxpayer’s expense: the hall in exchange for an okay from the (state) VP to the forward training center.
That is not the case, replies City Councilor Judith Ringer (VP), but it is “casual” when people are active in sports and Steyr receives a BNZ: “Eichinger was just successful on many levels.” But she is still skeptical about the Forward Project: “We should be careful with tax money. We are a community leaving and have to take out loans for every project.”
It is still unclear where the money for the curling hall will come from: “We have to see what funding comes from the federal and state governments and what costs remain for the club and for us as a city,” says Vogl. In any case, the association has to finance the ongoing operation. According to Vogl, the advantage is that essential infrastructure such as parking lots or hotels already exist. In addition, in this elite discipline, there is a willingness to see that athletes spend money on it in Steyr.
In line with climate protection?
Vogl, who likes to refer to his successes in climate protection, is calm about protests from environmentalists: “Where isn’t there?” The task of politics is to make things possible. “We have the money where it’s useful.”
The chairman of the Steyr environmental committee, Kurt Prack (Greens), is horrified by these plans: “An ice rink that has to be cooled all year round is a scandal in times like these. Unfortunately, I don’t feel any rethinking at all in the SP.” It is also bad that there is no information about these plans, everything is being arranged behind closed doors.
Source: Nachrichten
