Well that’s got to be it then.

77 percent of submitters want the Christchurch City Council to push ahead with the stadium as it is, never mind the cost. 

So I’d say that’s the decision made then.

Looks to me like the Council has been sent a very clear message. They had more than 30,000 submissions on the stadium.

That’s a huge amount of engagement. It’s the highest since the post-earthquake Share an Idea campaign in 2012.

And that tells you people care deeply about this.

And why they care I’d say is because they’re tired of all the dawdling and indecision.

It’s been 11 years since the earthquake. This thing should’ve been built years ago. 

I read an editorial in the local paper today that said: “Christchurch should waste no more time and get cracking on building such a stadium.”

That was written in August 2017. Five years ago. People are tired of waiting for this. 

Yes $683 million is expensive, and yes it’ll probably end up more even more expensive. If it’s like any other big project anywhere in the country it’ll blow that budget as well. 

And you know what, put the roof on. Yes it’s a luxury. Getting rid of it would save $35 million, but it’ll be worth it in the end for all the extra concerts and events it means the stadium can hold. 

We always do this. We quibble over the price. We end up building a smaller version than we actually need.

Case in point is Auckland’s Harbour Bridge. Within ten years of opening they were already figuring out how to add extra lanes because it was too small. 

Christchurch doesn’t want to build a stadium and then find out within ten years that they can’t attract certain artists or events because it really should’ve had a roof after all.

The vast majority of people can see the sense in just getting on with it. You’d have thought the Council would’ve seen the sense too. But clearly they needed to be told what to do.

They’ve been told, so just get on with it.