Raise the Hammer

^ my thoughts as well. I would have probably preferred a site right smack downtown like the SJAM site or Wilson/Catharine mega-slum lot district, but we already went through the selection phase and narrowed it down to the harbour or the -gulp- airport. In my mind we have two options - the harbour or the harbour. Let's get on with it and make it the darn best waterfront/stadium/entertainment precinct in the province instead of worrying about new entertainment/dining facilities poaching from existing ones. If that was the case then downtown TO would see a massive slate of boarded up buildings all along it's oldest arteries as new restaurants and cafes have opened over the years. It doesn't work that way. More options, more vibrancy, more restaurants, more patio districts, more fun places to be in the downtown will breed success for EVERYONE. Toss LRT into the mix and suddenly Hamilton is staring down an opportunity we haven't seen for decades - the ability to actually draw businesses other than pawn shops and money marts to our downtown neighbourhoods.

For all the people who want to close down Hess Village, I've always said the reason it is so crowded and can lead to some late night problems is because it's the ONLY place in the entire city that is COOL and worth visiting on a regular basis for locals and out of towners. This waterfront stadium site would be perfect for another patio strip and guess what - train tracks aren't going to complain about the noise!!! It's a win/win. Finally somewhere we can have more fun downtown, and without the hassle of transplanted suburbanites complaining that they can hear human voices on the sidewalks at night instead of just the car/truck traffic they desire.

I'm with Sean - let's get on with it already.

Comment edited by jason on 2010-02-16 08:36:08