Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee said there is nothing wrong with holding small concerts at Confederation Landing Park.
Lee reacted Wednesday to comments from Laurent Beaulieu, spokesman with the Charlottetown Downtown Residents Association (CDRA) in The Guardian, opposing the two summer concerts that city council approved in a vote on Monday night.
David Brown, president of the CDRA, quickly backtracked off those comments on Wednesday.
Lee said the guideline policy for Confederation Landing Park is that is shall be used for concerts or events of 1,000 people or less.
“However, it also allows the city to review an individual request on their own merit,’’ Lee said.
Related: Charlottetown Downtown Residents Association backs off opposition to summer concerts
As for the argument the city should only authorize concerts for the Charlottetown Event Grounds, Lee points out that the city doesn’t own or operate the event grounds and has never sunk a dime into it.
“The reality is, we didn’t build it. We didn’t put any money into the creation of the facility and (the event grounds) is a site to accommodate up to 27,000 people.’’
The concerts approved for this summer will be for a maximum of 5,000 people per show.
“To put 5,000 people on a small site like that would not create the atmosphere that you want to create at an outdoor municipal event.’’
Poll: Where should outdoor concerts be held in Charlottetown?
Lee noted that the city embraces arts and culture and that there is no reason to oppose this.
“We need to understand a tourism product in this province is holding events; it is concerts; these activities create employment opportunities for people that live here in Charlottetown.’’
Lee said there is no reason to oppose the shows and that the only reason Beaulieu did amounts to political opportunism. Beaulieu is running for the Ward 1 seat on city council.
“I think this thing has totally blown up in his face on him. My initial response to the whole thing is this is purely political, someone is trying to take political advantage of a situation.’’
