18 November 2016

Tuggeranong the loser as mpowerdome remains closed

| Robert Issell
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It’s a real shame that mpowerdome has been closed since April this year after 10 years of operation.
mpowerdome

mpowerdome is a multi-purpose indoor sports facility located at 56 Coyne Street, Fadden since 2006. More details about what activities were played can be found on their website .

What amazes me is that there has been very little coverage in the media about the closure of this facility when over 3,000 people of all ages have been without their local sports and recreation facility since April.

This doesn’t seem right.

What is the real reason behind the closure of mpowerdome and how has it impacted the families and residents of the Tuggeranong Valley?

Interesting questions and that have been clouded in mystery. Some people say there were car-parking safety issues. Some say a new buyer could not be found and some say that the Government has not been very supportive.

Whatever the truth, it’s a real shame that so many people who played each week, school holiday and weekend are now without these fantastic facilities and the benefits that they provided.

Many people who live in the Tuggeranong Valley, Queanbeyan and the broader sporting community have been affected by a decision that is out of their control. They came, they played and now nothing after 10 years.

You hear all kinds of rumours, and they really don’t matter. What does matter is that such a fantastic facility is closed and not available for the community to use. What does matter is how can it be reopened to become the facility again it once was.

How can it be revitalised and opened for the purpose it was built, to serve the community and provide a safe and friendly facility for health activities?

The community wants to know why this unique world first multi-million dollar community facility is closed. It’s a SHAME! It’s a real SHAME!

One of the regular users of the facility was the South Canberra Futsal Association and last year they had 588 players and this year they are down to just 350 players, according to longtime Club President Rober Lamaro.

Mr Lamaro said 2016 had been the worst year for numbers the association had ever had.

“The closure of mpowerdome has certainly made it very difficult for us to operate,” he said.

“The numbers are down and we have had to operate in several school halls, instead of running our competitions in just one easy to manage location like MPowerdome.”

Prior to the recent ACT Government elections, the Liberal Party made an announcement that it would contribute $300,000 towards a carpark if mpowerdome were reopened. But no such commitments have been made by the Labor Party even though their Report on ACT Indoor Sporting Facilities indicated that MPowerdome was well run and a very valuable community resource.

Maybe someone with connections with the new Labor/Greens Government can obtain their view on how they propose to help reopen the facility.

Surely it cannot be that difficult to get the interested parties to the table and work out a strategy. If business and government cannot work together on providing the basic necessities that every Community needs, what hope have we got?

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Chris Mordd Richards6:09 pm 14 Feb 17

dungfungus said :

TinyTank said :

dungfungus said :

rogueideas said :

This’d be a perfect venue for drone-flying ‘bootcamps’, gymkhanas and racing! Let get some 21st century technology delivered in an engaging, safe and fun environment (for all ages) in there and save it. And yes, the name (MPowerDome) is/was one of its major flaws – I have driven past it for years and had no clue what it is/was. Whoever ran it had nil to zip idea about advertising and marketing what was simply an indoor sports centre. The website’s an embarrassment. Some basic signage would’ve solved many problems too – why does Canberra continually do the country town, local council thing of “build it and tell no one” over and over again.

It needs a name change too, I mean what is conveyed by “M Powerdome”?

Think outside the box.

Empower the people to be active in a giant dome tent = M Powerdome. It certainly beats “Tuggeranong Sports Facility” or “South Canberra Indoor Sporting Complex” which is basically how a lot of venues are named.

It even beat itself as the business part of it failed.

Gotta admit, not a fan of the name myself either, and never heard of it before now, despite living on the southside, and occasionally play indoor soccer (futsal) and volleyball, w/ever their previous marketing was, I don’t think it was super effective.

TinyTank said :

dungfungus said :

rogueideas said :

This’d be a perfect venue for drone-flying ‘bootcamps’, gymkhanas and racing! Let get some 21st century technology delivered in an engaging, safe and fun environment (for all ages) in there and save it. And yes, the name (MPowerDome) is/was one of its major flaws – I have driven past it for years and had no clue what it is/was. Whoever ran it had nil to zip idea about advertising and marketing what was simply an indoor sports centre. The website’s an embarrassment. Some basic signage would’ve solved many problems too – why does Canberra continually do the country town, local council thing of “build it and tell no one” over and over again.

It needs a name change too, I mean what is conveyed by “M Powerdome”?

Think outside the box.

Empower the people to be active in a giant dome tent = M Powerdome. It certainly beats “Tuggeranong Sports Facility” or “South Canberra Indoor Sporting Complex” which is basically how a lot of venues are named.

It even beat itself as the business part of it failed.

dungfungus said :

rogueideas said :

This’d be a perfect venue for drone-flying ‘bootcamps’, gymkhanas and racing! Let get some 21st century technology delivered in an engaging, safe and fun environment (for all ages) in there and save it. And yes, the name (MPowerDome) is/was one of its major flaws – I have driven past it for years and had no clue what it is/was. Whoever ran it had nil to zip idea about advertising and marketing what was simply an indoor sports centre. The website’s an embarrassment. Some basic signage would’ve solved many problems too – why does Canberra continually do the country town, local council thing of “build it and tell no one” over and over again.

It needs a name change too, I mean what is conveyed by “M Powerdome”?

Think outside the box.

Empower the people to be active in a giant dome tent = M Powerdome. It certainly beats “Tuggeranong Sports Facility” or “South Canberra Indoor Sporting Complex” which is basically how a lot of venues are named.

rogueideas said :

This’d be a perfect venue for drone-flying ‘bootcamps’, gymkhanas and racing! Let get some 21st century technology delivered in an engaging, safe and fun environment (for all ages) in there and save it. And yes, the name (MPowerDome) is/was one of its major flaws – I have driven past it for years and had no clue what it is/was. Whoever ran it had nil to zip idea about advertising and marketing what was simply an indoor sports centre. The website’s an embarrassment. Some basic signage would’ve solved many problems too – why does Canberra continually do the country town, local council thing of “build it and tell no one” over and over again.

It needs a name change too, I mean what is conveyed by “M Powerdome”?

Chris Mordd Richards3:46 am 14 Feb 17

bruce_lord said :

This is the latest news I could find.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/two-centres-down-unmet-demand-for-indoor-sports-20160721-gqatx2.html

Robert Issell there is your answer right there regarding contact with the Labor/Greens government:

“Minister for Sport and Recreation Yvette Berry, who took over from Shane Rattenbury in late January, said the closure of the two centres was unfortunate but she had never had any direct representation from the respective owners or management.”

I support offering peppercorn rent for the carpark land, don’t so much support offering $300K to a private enterprise, but I could be persuaded in exchange for guaranteed hire costs at a reasonble to low rate for X amount of years or something like that. Government should incentivise sporting facilities but not subsidise them directly without significant community benefit in return, unless they are a not for profit operation for example.

Happy to ask Caroline Le Couter what the Greens specific position on this and the other recent closure is, as an ACT Greens member, and get back to you on that though, since you asked Robert.

New Canberra channel 9 news advert was reporting a government update on the M powerdome closure. Did anyone catch the news on what happened as I haven’t been able to find anything on line.

bj_ACT said :

pink little birdie said :

People seem to forget that indoors sports places are quite dead most of the time. Generally their busy business hours are from 5:30pm – 10pm on weekdays. Large expensive areas that are barely used.
Also the Kambah one seems to be quite successful. It could have been that the Tuggeranong area could only sustain one set of Indoor sports competitions and Kambah being older had significantly lower costs.

“Also the Kambah one seems to be quite successful” – You might want to check the response above…..

That’s terrible that both Tuggeranong indoor sports centres have shut, my nephew used to regularly go to the little Kambah centre.

Is it ‘chicken or egg’ that he is now a couch potato. I hope my brother doesn’t read Riotact.

This’d be a perfect venue for drone-flying ‘bootcamps’, gymkhanas and racing! Let get some 21st century technology delivered in an engaging, safe and fun environment (for all ages) in there and save it. And yes, the name (MPowerDome) is/was one of its major flaws – I have driven past it for years and had no clue what it is/was. Whoever ran it had nil to zip idea about advertising and marketing what was simply an indoor sports centre. The website’s an embarrassment. Some basic signage would’ve solved many problems too – why does Canberra continually do the country town, local council thing of “build it and tell no one” over and over again.

pink little birdie said :

People seem to forget that indoors sports places are quite dead most of the time. Generally their busy business hours are from 5:30pm – 10pm on weekdays. Large expensive areas that are barely used.
Also the Kambah one seems to be quite successful. It could have been that the Tuggeranong area could only sustain one set of Indoor sports competitions and Kambah being older had significantly lower costs.

“Also the Kambah one seems to be quite successful” – You might want to check the response above…..

K_c24 said :

Queanbeyan can’t be included as part of the reach of this facility as it has its own facility, not to mention the ex management of the powerdome are now all working at Council in varying roles. You only have to visit Limelight and watch the ads for Q-One and see how similar they are to the final mpowerdome advertising that was being used before it closed. There are too many facilities like this around the place – especially given there is also one nearby in Kambah. Something had to give.

You might want to check your facts KC24. The Kambah indoor sports centre shut up shop before the MPowerDome was closed. So I don’t know why you think there is too much competition for indoor sports facilities for the 86,000 residents of Tuggeranong.

Last time I was at the Kambah Indoor sports they were running $5 after school indoor soccer games for kids in the area. Followed at 6pm by indoor cricket for adults. By the look of the push bikes and cars out the front of the centre it was hardly well to do Canberran’s who were frequenting the Centre.

Considering the ACT Government has funded plenty of privately owned and run sporting organisation such as AFL, ACT Baseball, ACT Tennis, ACT Hockey, Rifle Association etc to the tune of almost a $100 million dollars over the last few years, I think it’s a bit rich for posters here to complain about the local government potentially giving some small funds to an area in dire need of local facilities for health and fitness.

The sports grounds, public tennis & basketball courts and play grounds around old Tuggeranong have either been replaced by housing developments, removed or have become very dilapidated. However, I am afraid there are no election winning votes to be won or lost in this part of Canberra so closures like the MPowerDome and Kambah Sports Centre will be soon forgotten by the average Canberran who never used these facilities.

Look to reduce free parking space for peoples Yachts near the lake or build on some open walking space near the Federal Golf Club however and the public outcry will be massive and the ACT Government will back right off.

pink little birdie1:34 pm 21 Nov 16

People seem to forget that indoors sports places are quite dead most of the time. Generally their busy business hours are from 5:30pm – 10pm on weekdays. Large expensive areas that are barely used.
Also the Kambah one seems to be quite successful. It could have been that the Tuggeranong area could only sustain one set of Indoor sports competitions and Kambah being older had significantly lower costs.

watto23 said :

dungfungus said :

Last time I looked this was a private facility. Why should the government be subsidising a private business by building them a carpark? The government has done what is reasonable which is offer the land to the business essentially for free.

Now if this was a not for profit community facility then different story but it isn’t, it is a private business, it is for them to provide the facilities including car parking to support their business.

Though suspect the closure is about something else anyway. Apparently the carpark only became an issue when big events were on not the day to day operations.

There is some sort of a precedent already set on this JC and I refer to the ACT Labor government quietly waiving unpaid rent on the Islamic Cultural Centre just down the road in Monash a few years ago.

The government also changed the land use approval to allow a mosque to be built on the site. How much was this worth?

Last time I looked the mosque/cultural centre/Islamic library at Monash was a “very” private facility.

Personally if the government did spend some money on this facility I’b be OK with it only because it does provide a needed community service, even if it is a for profit business. That said there were rumours of Tuggeranong getting a new ice sports facility so maybe thats a better facility to direct money at.

Also, while I’ve not been to the islamic library in Monash, I believe its open for anyone to visit. If you had am diverse range of friends, some of them muslim, you’d easily be able to find these things out. i’ve been to the mosque in Yarralumla on Friday with some work colleagues. they went to pray, I went because they often sell some delicious food there afterwards.

Amazing how ones views are formed based on actual experiences of a culture or religion vs whats in the media.

My comment referred only to the fact that there may have been a precedent in the way the government gave financial support to another business in the near vicinity.

The way you integrate with cultural groups is your business.

dungfungus said :

Last time I looked this was a private facility. Why should the government be subsidising a private business by building them a carpark? The government has done what is reasonable which is offer the land to the business essentially for free.

Now if this was a not for profit community facility then different story but it isn’t, it is a private business, it is for them to provide the facilities including car parking to support their business.

Though suspect the closure is about something else anyway. Apparently the carpark only became an issue when big events were on not the day to day operations.

There is some sort of a precedent already set on this JC and I refer to the ACT Labor government quietly waiving unpaid rent on the Islamic Cultural Centre just down the road in Monash a few years ago.

The government also changed the land use approval to allow a mosque to be built on the site. How much was this worth?

Last time I looked the mosque/cultural centre/Islamic library at Monash was a “very” private facility.

Pwrsonalyl if the government did spend som money on this facility I’b be OK with it only because it does provide a needed community service, even if it is a for profit business. That said there were rumours of Tuggeranong getting a new ice sports facility so maybe thats a better facility to direct money at.

Also, while I’ve not been to the islamic library in Monash, I believe its open for anyone to visit. If you had am diverse range of friends, some of them muslim, you’d easily be able to find these things out. i’ve been to the mosque in Yarralumla on Friday with some work colleagues. they went to pray, I went because they often sell some delicious food there afterwards. Amazing how ones views are formed based on actual experiences of a culture or religion vs whats in the media.

Queanbeyan can’t be included as part of the reach of this facility as it has its own facility, not to mention the ex management of the powerdome are now all working at Council in varying roles. You only have to visit Limelight and watch the ads for Q-One and see how similar they are to the final mpowerdome advertising that was being used before it closed. There are too many facilities like this around the place – especially given there is also one nearby in Kambah. Something had to give.

dungfungus said :

JC said :

dlenihan said :

1st port if call would be Messers Gentleman and Burch, our duly elected members of reigning powers of the ACT.

Mind you to get any action, propose the land be sold, the mPowerdome torn down and replaced with a modern box of units that will make a developer a large win fall. I would also suggest that you use the word ‘vibrant’ a lot in your conversation.

Lastly, don’t actually mention the facility is located in Tuggernong.

Best of luck

Last time I looked this was a private facility. Why should the government be subsidising a private business by building them a carpark? The government has done what is reasonable which is offer the land to the business essentially for free.

Now if this was a not for profit community facility then different story but it isn’t, it is a private business, it is for them to provide the facilities including car parking to support their business.

Though suspect the closure is about something else anyway. Apparently the carpark only became an issue when big events were on not the day to day operations.

There is some sort of a precedent already set on this JC and I refer to the ACT Labor government quietly waiving unpaid rent on the Islamic Cultural Centre just down the road in Monash a few years ago.

The government also changed the land use approval to allow a mosque to be built on the site. How much was this worth?

Last time I looked the mosque/cultural centre/Islamic library at Monash was a “very” private facility.

Based on what you said it seems like they offered a similar deal.

With the mpowerdone I have no issue with the government offering the land at pepercorn rent. I do have issue with $300,000 of government money being spent to built a carpark for a for profit business.

Now did the government build the Islamic centre a carpark? If they had of you might have gave a valid argument.

Oh and the Islamic centre is not a for profit business either the mpowerdone was. And don’t know about your definition of private. I have no doubt if you opened your eyes and popped on down to try and understand the religion you would be more than welcome in. The fact you don’t want to doesn’t make it any more private than any other religious facility in town.

And no I am not Muslim, nor do I identify as being a member of any religion. Last time I set foot on any religious grounds was the Thai food festival at the Thai temple.

JC said :

dlenihan said :

1st port if call would be Messers Gentleman and Burch, our duly elected members of reigning powers of the ACT.

Mind you to get any action, propose the land be sold, the mPowerdome torn down and replaced with a modern box of units that will make a developer a large win fall. I would also suggest that you use the word ‘vibrant’ a lot in your conversation.

Lastly, don’t actually mention the facility is located in Tuggernong.

Best of luck

Last time I looked this was a private facility. Why should the government be subsidising a private business by building them a carpark? The government has done what is reasonable which is offer the land to the business essentially for free.

Now if this was a not for profit community facility then different story but it isn’t, it is a private business, it is for them to provide the facilities including car parking to support their business.

Though suspect the closure is about something else anyway. Apparently the carpark only became an issue when big events were on not the day to day operations.

There is some sort of a precedent already set on this JC and I refer to the ACT Labor government quietly waiving unpaid rent on the Islamic Cultural Centre just down the road in Monash a few years ago.

The government also changed the land use approval to allow a mosque to be built on the site. How much was this worth?

Last time I looked the mosque/cultural centre/Islamic library at Monash was a “very” private facility.

Sorry I was replying to the $300 000 that the Liberals were offering to help with the car park, and my sarcasm was aimed at having no hope of any such thing now.

Yes, a business needs to stand on its on two feet, even if it gives benefits to a community.

Maybe they need pokies 🙂

dlenihan said :

1st port if call would be Messers Gentleman and Burch, our duly elected members of reigning powers of the ACT.

Mind you to get any action, propose the land be sold, the mPowerdome torn down and replaced with a modern box of units that will make a developer a large win fall. I would also suggest that you use the word ‘vibrant’ a lot in your conversation.

Lastly, don’t actually mention the facility is located in Tuggernong.

Best of luck

Last time I looked this was a private facility. Why should the government be subsidising a private business by building them a carpark? The government has done what is reasonable which is offer the land to the business essentially for free.

Now if this was a not for profit community facility then different story but it isn’t, it is a private business, it is for them to provide the facilities including car parking to support their business.

Though suspect the closure is about something else anyway. Apparently the carpark only became an issue when big events were on not the day to day operations.

dlenihan said :

1st port if call would be Messers Gentleman and Burch, our duly elected members of reigning powers of the ACT. Best of luck

haha….good joke. “Student in the cage Burch” and “ALP echo chamber” Genteman have done little for their constituents in Brindabella. Most of the time, they are MIA. But yeah, try. Its absolutely astounding that both were re elected by voters/Ratepayers in Tuggeranong. You get what you vote for so reflects poorly on those voters.

dungfungus said :

Family and friends (when younger) used to go to the old tennis club there but they didn’t embrace the new “indoor concept”.

I used to go to the old club but was priced out of the new one.

The old club was family run and oriented. One of my greatest memories is of entering the father/son tennis tournament and of social evenings. We were there several times a week. When the new owners bought it and proposed the current facility they gave talks about how it would be community friendly, no price increases etc. Of course prices went up to the point where we could no longer afford to be members. The car park is a nightmare. The adjacent bike path gets covered in sand from the runoff.

Tear it down. Go back to open air courts.

1st port if call would be Messers Gentleman and Burch, our duly elected members of reigning powers of the ACT.

Mind you to get any action, propose the land be sold, the mPowerdome torn down and replaced with a modern box of units that will make a developer a large win fall. I would also suggest that you use the word ‘vibrant’ a lot in your conversation.

Lastly, don’t actually mention the facility is located in Tuggernong.

Best of luck

The reason it closed is because Dungers objected to the visual and noise pollution it generated along with the smell of sweaty bodies exercising.

But in all seriousness it closed because of the carparking situation and the closure was covered in the local media at the time and as Dungers himself mentioned it was an area where the Liberals saw some votes and offered a private business a subsidy of $300,000 to bring the carpark up to scratch. So was in the news during the election campaign too.

The government offered the business the land for the carpark but for the owners had to upgrade it. Though one would assume that wouldn’t have flown with our resident liberal supporters, something about dogey land deals and the like.

I drive past the place several times a week and I wasn’t aware it was closed.
Family and friends (when younger) used to go to the old tennis club there but they didn’t embrace the new “indoor concept”.

I think the name “MPowerDome” was too innovative and intimidating. Perhaps if it was simply named “Fadden Indoor Sports Centre” it may have attracted a wider demographic.

Car parking and indeed access and egress to Coyne Street has always been a problem there.

Possible uses could be another indoor venue for “Voices in the Forrest” which would be legitimate as it is bordered by the Fadden Pines plantation.

Indoor shooting range? (well, perhaps paint-ball)

Refugee camp?

Indoor free-range chook farm?

At least the Liberals pledged to improve the car parking there so the popular rebuke “what would the Liberals have done?” does not apply on this thread.

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