Has anyone else noticed that the neon waves at the top of the HSBC Arena are no longer lit? Actually, it’s been quite some time since they were working. I noticed the neon outage a while ago, but I assumed that someone was working on them. Nope. I’ve been asking around and nobody has a clear answer. The best answer is that the neon was not engineered properly to begin with. Is this another example of ‘On time and under budget’? Sometimes, when there is a rush to get the job done… the devil is in the details, right?
The HSBC Arena opened for the ’96 season. Thirteen seasons later, the colorful lights have been snuffed. It’s unfortunate, because as the city skyline has finally added a couple of nice new feature buildings, it would be good to have the arena firing on all cylinders. After all, it is a beacon in a district that can look pretty dark at times. And you would think that industrial neon would last beyond a decade. How much did it cost to begin with? Maybe we could borrow some lights from the Peace Bridge?