Raise the Hammer

I don't think the location of Ivor Wynne was failed.

In light of an alternative site for the building a new field that location choice may be failed, but Ivor Wynne dutifully served the city for decades.

Come December 1st, get ready for more consternation on the LRT as Mayor Eisenberger dithers and works to set up a citizen's panel and watch as the change of the Aerotropolis/AEGD to residential zoning is championed (and completed) by his backroom staff.

> In light of an alternative site for the building a new field that location choice may be failed, but Ivor Wynne dutifully served the city for decades.

The team was a money pit and it failed to build up any ancillary economic activity in the surrounding neighborhood other than lawn parking. 150 million to upgrade that failure seems ludicrous.

Well, at least it's clear he reads Raise The Hammer.

Some of them actually have, and some may have even been elected in the recent election. So uh, yeah.

Seriously speaking, I think folks from the RTH crowd should run for office. I would vote for someone like Ryan in a heartbeat. BTW, I hope Brian McHattie is not down and out of politics altogether. I hope he runs for mayor again.

If you review the list of RTH authors at http://raisethehammer.org/authors/ you'll find many successful and unsuccessful candidates for various positions in the City, including school trustee, councillor, and mayor.

Bratina will likely go down as one of the worst Mayors in the city's history.

A wholly unimpressive individual. I look forward to the more "exhaustive" list of accomplishments he'd like to take credit for.

It is interesting how he glossed over the period the between him "solving the stadium fiasco" and next weekends playoff game. Are we to assume that everything went swimmingly in between? I understand that a lot of the problems related to the stadium predate his involvement and he can't be blamed for all that went wrong but at the same time I would not define this project as a success by any reasonable measure.

To be fair, the project not going well should be laid at the feet of Infrastructure Ontario who are in charge of supervising the construction and not the Mayor.

After all that's gone wrong, regardless of who is to blame you cannot claim the project as a success. We blew an opportunity to make a splash.

We got a stadium, that's true. But to claim that any fiasco was solved is a lie.

Like Ryan said, if the stadium was built in the West Harbour a lot of construction delays could have been avoided. They have botched this project and rushed to completion. Expect the cracks to show in the near future.

An unimpressive argument. Really, I don't know how you can state that construction delays would have been avoided. At least not with a streight face.

Would the subcontractor who went bankrupt, not gone bankrupt? Would last winter been millder, or shorter? Would the inevitable delays associated to any construction project disappeared?

it wouldn't have mattered. It could have been delayed for 5 years and the Cats would have had Ivor Wynne to play in the entire time.

That's a separate topic/argument from issues concerning the stadium build. That is a usage issue, not a construction one.

Also, not guaranteed as it was never determined what the next use was going to be for the Ivor Wynne site, nor a timeline on the demolition, or use.

maybe I shouldn't always except the worst from our local institutions and city hall, but is it not reasonable for anyone to ask the question surrounding complete silence from the Cats on the months' long delays to the stadium? After all, they are to receive $1 million per GAME missed. Kinda convenient that they ended up "missing" the entire season, yet still getting temporary occupancy permits all season.

Comment edited by jason on 2014-11-14 19:43:19

I bet that by comparison to other Hamilton mayors, history will view Bratina as a good mayor. This is a reason to be worried and disappointed.

Save your breath. You will never convince the slack jawed Ti-cat faithful that the Ivor Wynnne rebuild was a lost opportunity.

Like Bratina supporters and LRT opponents they are impervious to logic and reason. For some strange reason this sub-set of Hamiltonians delight in the decay of their own city.

Strange.

So you choose to use the Tiger Cat chant as your screen name to take a shot at Tiger Cat fans.

Keep staying classy!

I've talked to ti-cat fans who loathe the IW rebuild... but they wanted the East Mountain.

Mayor Bratina quoted in The Hamiltonian: "[I] have now completed the four year term with the City of Hamilton in a true renaissance. Everything you can measure is moving on the right path, and everywhere you look you see progress." If the self-congratulatory mayor means Hamilton looks post-medieval, then he's correct.

What a pathological lack of insight into how his term in office degraded Ward 3. The meth lab raid at 803 Cannon St. E. is the tip of the iceberg. Ward 3 is now the poster child for urban blight, with our crowning carbuncle, Tim Hortons Field. 23% unemployment and no infrastructure to support the stadium.

And let's remember his stellar performance during the urban chicken debate. Niagara Falls, Guelph, and Brantford all allow urban poultry as part of their food security plan. But Hamilton has no food security plan -- almost all its food is trucked in with just-in-time delivery. No emergency back-up supplies. Clever management. Roll on, December 1.

Bratina's milquetoast exterior seems in contrast with his self reported legacy which can only mean narcissism. Every narcissist I've ever met is superficially charming and likeable.

I have never seen these two characteristics in one person before. Bizarre to say the least, perhaps an indication of more serious mental illness or early dementia.