Raise the Hammer

I bet Fred is itching to vote West Harbour. If he isn't happy with CP even if the federal government says here is a boatload of cash, he should in principal, vote it down and stick with West Harbour.

I do agree with those that say, Fred shouldn't be hung to dry over this stadium non-sense. The Cats are to blame and now we see, HostCo is too with their loose defination of a 'Legacy' and flip-flopping as to whether or not they would fund the Harbour project.

I now believe if we lose these games that it would not be a defeat, but a victory. It would be saying "you know what, thanks for the offer, but no thanks.No football team and no host committee, is ever going to tell us where our stadium should or should not go."

We'll continue to explore our options on our own, over a proper period of time where numerous locations can be evaluated properly, and the Tiger-Cats will not be involved in the process other than giving them two options:

1. Stay at Ivor Wynne and we can work together to addresss some of the existing concerns
2. We'll research a site for a new stadium outside this HostCo process, if the Cats agree that wherever that location is, they will play there. A site where private investers are interested, and where the city and it's citizens feel a true Legacy can be left - not a legacy for the rich ro with just football in mind. We will work with Federal and Provincial governments to seek funding, with the aim to build so much more than a football stadium. If you want some revenue from parking, advertising, etc, give us a check up front with no strings attached to help us fund this project, because the stadium is for the people of this city and should be built with their dreams in mind.

Speaking of more than football, how about a stadium with a cooling system built into the floor of the stadium, to be able to use it for skating/hockey in the winter? How hard is it for the NHL to make these Winter Classics work ice wise? What about a stadium with a built in feature to address this? We could host annual AHL Winter Classics, have children play a game or so a year in an outdoor rink, offer public skating, etc. See this video I talk about doing this along Balsam, but I talk about retractable seating for a track, and cooling built into the floor. This design does need to be built in a residential neighborhood though. This type of stadium is meant to be a community use stadium - one accessible by public transit and thousands of people within walking or biking or snowshoe distance. :)

Not sure we actaully have time to research a stadium properly outside the Pan Am process, without having to spend $20M to repair the south stands to keep the Cats going until a new stadium is built. Perhaps that has something to do with the urgency for both sides to make this work - espcially the Cats. I believe 2010 was the year recommended to replace the south stands, and 2014 was the final year in the engineers 10 years plan to repair/replace all items mentioned in the report. The Cats did say when I talked to them earlier in the summer, that soon, the engineers will no longer sign off on the yearly safety inspection. Not sure how soon 'soon' is?

Ever wish that a billion dollars would suddenly land in your lap one morning? Although I would like to at least erase my debt and know what it's like to start over, I don't know that I would want to be rich. If I won a billion dollars (is there a billion dollar lottery? lol), I would buy the Cats and Ivor Wynne, just to have the peace of mind to know whether a restore and rejuvinate the lands lining Balsam could have worked.

You can try restore and build new if it doesn't work, but you can't build new and go back to the old if it doesn't.

I wish there was someone out there with some cash burning a hole in their pocket, who would like to give this dream a go. I would drop my job and put my heart and soul, into trying to prove that there is something very beautiful being overlooked here.

Sorry for those of you sick of my Ivor Wynne rants. I am getting equally as tired of talking about it. I long to write and think about something more important than football. It's just a football stadium. So why can't I get this virtual project out of my head?

Where did our summer go? I wonder if the book cover for the tale that was this past summer, will be 'The Stadium that Never Was.'