Full Podcast: https://lovethenorth.ca/article/261008-sudbury-ward-11-shawn-ouimette Ward 11 candidate Shawn Ouimette says he supports keeping the Event Centre downtown — but he believes the City chose the wrong location. His preferred site was the area around the **Frontenac Hotel, Pizza Pizza and the parking lot beside the downtown mall**, where he says the arena could have been built directly adjacent to the mall and connected into it. Ouimette says that kind of location could have helped solve two problems at once. First, it would have created a major year-round attraction directly beside the mall. Hockey games, concerts and other events would bring thousands of people into the area, giving restaurants, stores and other businesses a built-in stream of potential customers. Second, he says it could have helped breathe new life into a downtown mall that many residents remember as once being packed with stores like Eaton’s and Zellers. Ouimette also talks about combining the old Frontenac with a new hotel development, creating a larger entertainment district around the arena instead of hoping businesses arrive afterward. His argument is that **an arena should not sit in isolation. It should be connected to the businesses, parking, restaurants and commercial space around it.** He compares the concept to larger venues where arenas are integrated into surrounding shopping and entertainment areas, allowing people to eat, shop and gather before and after events. For Ouimette, that would have given Sudbury a stronger opportunity to use the arena as a tool for downtown revitalization — not simply as another building downtown. #Sudbury #ShawnOuimette #Ward11 #EventCentre #DowntownSudbury #Arena #DowntownMall #EconomicDevelopment #GreaterSudbury #LoveTheNorth