Raise the Hammer

For Immediate Release

Statement by Mayor Fred Eisenberger

Hamilton - There are several questions and rumours at present concerning the future Pan stadium.

I have insisted on a public statement and, until such time as a confirming public statement is made by the provincial and/or federal governments concerning the stadium, I will not comment.

Regardless, I am and will continue to be in favour of the West Harbour site for the Pan Am stadium. I am doing what I have always done and that is to safeguard the public interest of people of Hamilton.

wow...if this is true, this well and truly proves something is rotten in the state of Denmark...

WTF?!? The bid book had the West Harbour as the PAN AM Stadium from the start, so what's changed? Surely this can't be true...

Surely it can't be true indeed, because there is no way that the East Mountain stadium is in line with provincial planning priorities. And in light of their stated commitment not to interfere? Brad Clark may indeed know something I don't, but I don't believe him.

the province could care less about their own planning priorities. it's all about money, power and winning elections.

Surely this cannot be true but that statement by Fred looks ominous.

Weird, I wonder what their rationale is. I hope they are ready to pony up all the extra dough it will take.

$200mil stadium for the Ti-Cats? Really you think council will go for that?

Bet council says no, stadium goes to Mississauga, we get a nice Velodrome and park and the TiCats get Ivor Wynne renovated and thats that.

Unless the Ticats up and leave hahaha good luck... lotsa demand for CFL teams out there. lollerz.

Put them on the market Bob Caretaker... see if you get any takers.

Hey Gord, Loser much?

statement:

The PanAm Games present our community with a huge opportunity to improve our city and make progress on behalf of the families that live in this city.

The goal of the McGuinty government has always been to build a stadium for the City of Hamilton that will have a lasting benefit to the community.

As the MPPs for Hamilton Mountain and Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale, we want to be part a government that builds a great facility for the PanAm Games.

With a final decision days away, the federal government has made it clear to the province and the city that it will not fund a new stadium at the West Harbour.

The Ontario government believes, as the city’s staff report points out, that if the stadium is going to have a strong future, it must have an anchor tenant. We believe the best opportunity for success now is to build the stadium on the East Mountain, and we will encourage all parties involved to work towards that solution over the coming days.

Sophia Aggelonitis, MPP, Hamilton Mountain

Ted McMeekin, MPP, Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale

I feel sick. Anyone want to join me for a round of Gravol? Scrap that - make it Jack Daniels neat. I can only keep my fingers crossed (because nothing else has worked) that my worst suspicions of Hamilton still being run and controlled by those other than law-abiding Hamiltonians are not true. If this rumour is solidified, we should use Saturday's rally to support Mayor Eisenberger. No one else on Council, that I am aware of, has championed Hamilton's best interests in these Pan Am dealings as he has. And...we should just cancel the whole Pan Am thing. I choose no Pan Am involvement over a corrupt, unjustified expenditure.

p.s. sorry for the "IF" - I was busy posting as Jason was confirming the rumour. (heavy sigh)

Comment edited by goin'downtown on 2010-08-06 16:24:25

I love how the feds have agreed to take the fall for this. As if they care about getting liberals re-elected in Mississauga or Larry DiIanni in Hamilton or scrapping our LRT money in favour of Mississuaga.

So typical and so political.

Comment edited by jason on 2010-08-06 16:20:24

those of you who live in the 2 Liberal ridings in Hamilton need to do two things:

a) be careful of the mafia b) vote them out!!

Mayor Fred's Response:

Hamilton - We have been hearing from our federal and provincial partners all along that the stadium issue should and would be decided locally.

That changed today. I am extremely disappointed that the decision is now being made by the upper levels of government.

I have been consistent in my support for a stadium located at the West Harbour because I believe it best serves the public interest.

The community has spoken loudly and clearly that the West Harbour makes the most sense for the people of Hamilton.

It is obvious that the upper levels of government are ignoring the community and have instead listened to private interests.

The truth is the West Harbour won. The West harbour won the support of the community. The West Harbour won because it is best for the community.

Powerful private interests compelled the federal and provincial governments to move the goal posts. They changed the game so they could win.

Regardless I am a supporter of the West Harbour. I will continue to be in favour of the West Harbour site for the Pan Am stadium. I am doing what I have always done and that is to safeguard the public interest of people of Hamilton. That means a stadium at the West Harbour.

Regardless of what happens I will continue to be an advocate of the redevelopment of the West Harbour.

I will present a motion to council at the first opportunity which if passed will authorize city staff to prepare a new plan for the West Harbour that are at least as significant and sustainable as a stadium and that a task force be created to spearhead the initiative.

Well this is one we can't blame on council, I have never seen a more shameless disgusting abuse of political influence in my life. Bob Young was prepared to walk away if he didn't get his way, maybe we should do the same. Let The Cats, the Feds and the Province pay for the whole damn thing. I can think of a million better ways to spend our money.

Comment edited by UrbanRenaissance on 2010-08-06 16:44:11

Whatever comes of this, they ought not be allowed to use "Future Fund" monies to build a stadium on the East Mountain.

Sophia Aggelonitis, MPP - Hamilton Mountain Constituency Office 952 Concession Street, Unit 2 Hamilton, ON L8V 1G2 Tel: 905-388-9734 Fax: 905-388-7862 Email: saggelonitis.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org

they can still vote west harbour, meaning no funding and no stadium.

fingers crossed.

both MPPs just lost their jobs. How many councillors are willing to follow them off that cliff?

Ted McMeekin M.P.P. - Ancaster-Dundas Flamborough-Westdale

Constituency Office tmcmeekin.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org P.O. Box 1240, Waterdown, ON, L0R 2H0 905-690-6552 Toll-Free: 888-566-6614 Fax: 905-690-6562

Comment edited by seancb on 2010-08-06 16:44:31

It's quite obvious to me that the feds and provincial government knew the Ticats were going to lose the fight so proded by Dave Braley the feds have stuck their nose in. I don't ever want to hear from anyone what a great Hamiltonian Dave Braley is. He doesn't even live here. But one thing about it, it just proves that money can buy anything including Prime Ministers and Premiers.

This is the most blatant, obvious, reckless case of Canadian political corruption that I have ever witnessed. Stunned.

Fight back.

Finally, proof that Fred doesn't have any relationship with the federal government. Fred played high stakes poker thinking he knew it all and didn't.

Finally, proof that Fred doesn't have any relationship with the federal government. Fred played high stakes poker thinking they would play fair and they didn't.

Fixed.

"Whatever comes of this, they ought not be allowed to use "Future Fund" monies to build a stadium on the East Mountain."

Couldn't agree more - maybe Sophie and Ted will veto that, too? Yes, I'm holding them and anyone else involved in this civic mutiny responsible for such an aberration of politics.

SeanCB, thanks for the info.

Martinus Gelynese (sp) was just on CH News; super composed; compelling interview.

Fred's letter is awesome. The guy is such a Hamiltonian.

Maybe the next crusade should be to educate Joe Citizen about civics - to get more municipal involvement from our citizens - and clean up the posts of our elected officials. Then maybe this won't happen again. We can't tear down corruption; but we can build up against it...

"All hail Tybal! Why didn't he get elected?"

Politics couldn't pay me nearly what I earn now.

Unfortunately, not enough to buy the Ticats.

"Finally, proof that Fred doesn't have any relationship with the federal government. Fred played high stakes poker thinking he knew it all and didn't."

Proof that Fred doesn't have any CORRUPT relationship with the federal government.

The problem with calling Ted McMeekin is that his seat is a given. It used to be Tory, until amalgamation. No one will ever vote Tory here for a very very long time. There is no threat of not being elected next time. (sadly!)

A..aand, this area supported L.D. heavily last time around. (The candidate that would not commit to supporting a stadium location.)

All I can say is what bigguy said on another thread -

BOYCOTT TONIGHT'S GAME!!

(& I hope mayor Fred tells both of those 'people' to find another location for the stadium. We don't want it here, in a $%^*()_!! cornfield!)

And-
BOYCOTT TONIGHT'S GAME!!

I just saw Mayor Fred being interviewed on channel 11...he did not mince word regarding his outrage.

What changed...

http://www.raisethehammer.org/blog/1849/aggelonitis:_province_will_support_hamilton_stadium_decisionAggelonitis:
http://www.raisethehammer.org/blog/1836/province_backs_city_on_stadium_location

Something stinks...the fix is in.

Let's hope the council vote is still West Harbour regardless of this insanity, and if that means we ultimately don't have a new stadium then so be it...no Future Fund dollars for east mountain. I'll still be at Hess Village to support Fred who has won my vote.

I would fully support any and all councilors who vote in favour of the 'West Harbour' location if it gets to a vote. We would forfeit the stadium and games but reaffirm that we still have a democracy in Hamilton. What happened today is about as ugly as a 'Democracy' gets.

No bread is better than bad bread. Let's say no to this stadium, to this coercion, to these Games and their dirty politics.

Questions for anyone: Why are Aggelonitis and McMeeken the lead spokespersons on this issue? And why was an MPP the messenger for the federal government?

And; breathe.

C'mon, this is all about the Province of Toronto.

First they yank the Track and Field (the premiere events) and give us soccer. They never needed Hamilton for soccer.

This was pitched as a "Regional Games" in order to get all of the public money on side. Now that recovery from the recession is underway........scrap that, let's get it all back to Toronto.

You EM stadium dreamers can dream on. There is no way the City of Hamilton is giving up a penny from the FF with such overt meddling by the Feds and Province. They know it. They want us to tell them to take a hike.

That puts everything that matters back in TO. The way they always wanted it.

Good Lord, Marco. Mayor Fred has behaved in a surprisingly, and refreshingly forthright manner. There are all sorts of ways we could put ourselves into a position to stop begging money from the province, but this isn't really the place to itemize them, nor is it Mayor Fred's fault that we need the province's money.
I think Bigguy1231 is more on the ball. Don't peg this on Mayor Fred. He's one of the good guys.

Comment edited by d.knox on 2010-08-06 18:02:50

Fred has not been forthright, several members of Council have said this. He has not shared information freely with council members as if he had we would have known about this well before today. This Mayor sucks and needs to go back on the consulting or unemployment line that he was on before getting elected by fluke.

This is sick. No stadium for me, thanks. No dumb ass Pan Am games, either.

Marco,

Once again you are way off base. I have never supported Fred on any issue, in fact I did not vote for him. But his unwavering support for the West Harbour has impressed me. Up until a few days ago I had fully intended to support flip flop Larry DiIanni in the upcomming election, but because of his shameless politicing in this matter he has lost any chance of getting my vote. That doesn't mean I will support Fred but my vote is up for grabs now. If someone steps up with a platform I can for the most part support they will get my vote. Hopefully we will get a few more additions to the race in the next few weeks that will show some leadership and vision.

This Mayor sucks and needs to go back on the consulting or unemployment line that he was on before getting elected by fluke.

I believe that "fluke" is called the will of the people. Welcome to a democracy, where the person who gets the most votes in an election wins and the backroom deals made by private interests don't get counted at the ballot box.

While I'm saddened and sickened by the outright dishonesty of the provincial government, I feel extremely proud that our elected representatives in City Hall have stood up in the best interests of the people of this city. What this city needs to continue to revitalize is strong local leadership and an engaged populace. We don't need a stadium (although it would have been nice), what we need is to work together to get investment dollars into our community that fund projects that work for our community.

The West Harbour is still a prime location for waterfront development, if we as a citizens of this city choose to spend the money to remediate the brownfield, I absolutely believe development dollars will follow. We can still create a lasting legacy for our city, we just need the imagination to see beyond a stadium and the will to persevere despite the provincial and federal governments backstabbing.

Don't people realize the stadium is still short 25 million (for a 25 thousand seat stadium) and nobody has stated where the money is coming from?. Not only that in the long term 25,000 seats may not be enough and will have to be upgraded further. If this stadium is going to cost 40 million more (or whatever number it is)..compared to the harbor than the city should flatly reject using any money for a pan-am stadium. If they have any guts they will say no and tell the province and bob young to talk a walk. The bid book had the west harbor for the location. The pan am people also checked out the harbor location and were fine with it..or did people forget this?. Bob Young, Mark Cohon and the province all have shown they could care less about people in hamilton and have shown nothing but arrogance and ignorance. It was easy to hate harold ballard because he was a idiot and its hard to hate bob young..but he sure has lost the respect of one 35 plus year supporter of the ticats.

This is good news. Now we get a financially viable stadium and the clean up of the west harbour. Two wins for the City of Hamilton. An amphitheater and a multi-purpose community centre will bring even more people down to the north end. Thank goodness the Feds and the province got involved.

Don't be so blind people. There will be no new stadium at all. This whole thing is set up to fail. Ask yourself; Will the councilors vote in favour of $40 to $80 million additional spending on top of the $45 million already allocated? Will the province come through with the additional funds? Will the city still hold a vote on the 2 locations, and what if WH prevails? Will the Ti-Cats continue to negotiate in good faith, when the prize is in the bag?........This stadium is going East. The PanAm board pulled the Track and Field events from Hamilton. Next they will pull the funding for the Track and Field stadium. I can hear the spin, "Hamilton Blew it."

This is David Braley at work. He's part of the reason Harper is where he is and now he's getting his reward. Congratulations Braley on your sinecure and now you get to stiff your hometown for dessert. Too bad we've already named one stadium after you, because you really deserve this one. Instead we should call it the Fenn-Troop stadium and built it in the shape of a massive middle finger facing downtown.

Let's all rally to have no stadium, screw the Ticats. They don't deserve a new stadium with our local money. They've sucked community funds long enough. They never had any intention to leave Hamilton and their empty threats to leave if the stadium went to the WH backfired on them. It only created more support for the west harbour. The CFL needs the team in Hamilton as they don't have anywhere to go, you can't have a league with 7 teams. So in order to save face they run to the feds like children and get them involved in our issue. Well too bad for you Ticats, no one wants the Stadium in the EM and I think the consensus is no stadium instead. As for the Fed's and the province, your disgraceful last minute effort the save the interests of your wealthy friends will cost you. No one will forget your "community decide" democratic approach and then the rush to save the CFL from collapsing as they can't afford to shrink anymore. Well done...say no to the stadium. Let's build our community.

OK, Fine.

We don`t need the CFL.

It`s a 8 team league full of redundancy.

Screw them. If you are a ticats fan, good for you. You win championship the majority of this city will no longer care about. Only old people like the TiCats, they can use their pension money to visit them in Halifax or Rochester NY or wherever.

Now is where hamiltons media usually plays their role as laid out in "the Media, the Mafia and the Party Machine".
Will they turtle once again or will they actually continue to do their jobs (I'm largely referring to the spec who has done a great job covering this issue. CHML might as well change their call letters to CATS. They've been useless as always).

The media is staring down a great opportunity to "out" some of their beloved politicians who sold out the citys future and chances at quick LRT and downtown condo development for their own gain. Man, I sure hope Dave Braden runs for mayor. We need a candidate who won't let this issue die and will keep accusing the offenders for the whole city to hear over and over and over.

This should be an affront to every citizen and member of Council regardless of which location he or she prefers. The federal Conservatives, in dishonestly going back on their word, have denied Hamiltonians the right to shape their own destiny AND to see how their elected representatives would vote. Clearly, the numbers had been counted, the groundswell of public support for the West Harbour was going to bear fruit and Bob Young and the Tiger-Cats had been seen for what they are. But this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Conservative governments never help regular people but regular people keep voting them in. Did anyone think that Bob Young's family was card-carrying NDP? Did anyone think that Senator Braley, the largest stakeholder in the CFL, would sit back and let this happen? And what about Ted McMeekin, Sophia Aggelonitis and the Provincial Liberals? Normally, they can't agree with the feds on whether or not the sun will come up tomorrow. But there they were, late on a summer Friday, meekly referring to a federal decision that no one seems to have seen and for which there has been no stated rationale. Where was their righteous indignation? Perhaps they think this will look bad on Mayor Fred Eisenberger and will help their boy DiIanni (you know, the guy who's running on a "leadership" platform but wouldn't take a side on this issue).

Let's not forget, however, that, in the end, City Councillors still control what happens here. They can vote for the West Harbour and they don't have to allow one red cent of taxpayers' money (from the regular budget or the future fund) to go into Bob Young's pocket. They don't have to take ownership of the stadium and could let it pay taxes like regular people do, nor do they have to make any road or drainage improvements to accomodate it. If this means that Hamilton doesn't get any Federal or Provincial funding, it simply doesn't matter. We're not getting it anyway. Bob Young is!

An east mountain stadium will only further suck the life out of our downtown, increase our taxes and be an environmental disaster, regardless of who's paying for it. In real, net dollars, it would be far more beneficial for taxpayers if Councillors react to this patronizing insult to all Hamiltonians, especially them, by having the courage to simply turn down the little that's left of the Pan-American games, call Bob Young's bluff and invest our millions in the West Harbour and on our long-suffering downtown where, in a nutshell, it will benefit more people in more ways. No platitudes, no whining of "what else could we do?" Just stand up!

Members of Council who have the courage stand up to the Federal and Provincial governments and to the threats and bullying of the likes of Bob Young deserve your support and your vote.

I don't think that Fred came off as a victim at all. He sounded completely p.o.'d and disgusted. Not with deceit, or backstabbing or backroom deals; he's undoubtedly seen that/been there. But with the blatant disrespect for democracy. I hope someone investigates and blows the roof right off this one, because this is much more insidious than the issue of a friggin' CFL team or Pan Am Games. This is unadulterated corruption.

Coincidentally we haven't heard a peep about that OPP investigation into the ORC from a few weeks ago.

Comment edited by goin'downtown on 2010-08-06 20:58:12

The Fed's and the province are now on the hook to build a Track and field stadium in Toronto, I guess it plays right into their hands to not support the West Harbour so they have an excuse to pull funding to revert those funds to build in Toronto and completely take soccer from Hamilton.

I am speechless.

"The problem with calling Ted McMeekin is that his seat is a given. It used to be Tory, until amalgamation. No one will ever vote Tory here for a very very long time. There is no threat of not being elected next time. (sadly!)

A..aand, this area supported L.D. heavily last time around. (The candidate that would not commit to supporting a stadium location."

Actually, A.D,F,W and it's predeceasors has leaned Conservative provincially more than not since the '50's and has been a bellweather since the mid '80's electing members from the governing party each time with the exception of by-elections. Federally it's probably been about 50/50

Larry DiIanni may well have won Ancaster and Dundas but I think, if you check, he lost Flamborough by enough votes to lose the whole election.

Consequently, the person most responsible for DiIanni's defeat, above and beyond his own conviction for election "cheating", was former Ward 14 (western Flamborough) Councillor Dave Braden whose publicly stated intention in withdrawing from the Mayor's race was to ensure there was no split in the vote. Given that Braden would have done well in his home town, that prescient decision, cost DiIanni the mayor's chair.

So should the city just sit back and just shrug its shoulders? One of the most interesting things that has been pointed out to me was that of those that attended the GoEastMountain rally, most were older adults. I was not there and cannot comment personally but I did see some pictures of the event. The support for the West Harbour is broad but there is a real core and the heart of it comes from the younger generation. What does that tell you?

The feds and the province need to be sent a message of our displeasure. Don't stop - keep up the good fight. I moved to the lower city 3 years ago and I remained a changed man. I learned much from my girlfriend who moved here from Toronto and started up a gallery near Ivor Wynne. She kept on telling me that people from Hamilton have a soul and that we are so nice. Most of her exposure came from those living in the lower city. After 31 years of living on the mountain, I see it for myself now.

I believe that this debate away from the lower city and downtown has to do with a lack of social conscious and the greater scope of the sure impact that the WH site would have. One of my friends remarked that if my business was near the East Mountain, then I would want it there too. I said that I wouldn't because it is not what is best for the city that I love.

This fight is not over and will not be over for some time. The one good thing that has come out of this is that the passion of Hamiltonians has become evident. It is so great to see.

Keep on fighting for Hamilton!

Did the Argos just get their new stadium along with their new owner?

MyMy,

You do realize that the only reason the feds stepped in is because a certain newly appointed senator realized that he and his CFL buddies were going to lose the battle for the East Mountain.

The battle may be over for the West Harbour, but that doesn't mean anyone has won. The city can still reject the whole idea of an EM stadium and just say forget about the whole idea of building a stadium.

In fact I have had contact with 2 city councillors through emails and both have indicated that they more than likely will vote against any stadium rather than be forced to accept a stadium in a location that the city doesn't want. One of those councillors was going to vote for the EM, but as a result of this unprecidented federal interference will vote against any stadium.

So who is the winner going to be, it certainly won't be the Ticats who will either be stuck playing in Ivor Wynne or financing their own stadium. The Ticats have bit off more than they can chew and now they will face the consequences. The prospect of no place to play.

Well said Bigguy1231.

It's time for each Councillor to show us what they're really made of. All the talk about democracy and political interference will mean nothing if they fail to stand up and defend our democracy and instead roll over and release hardearned public money to what is essentially a private endeavour.

No level of government is giving the PEOPLE of Hamilton ANYTHING here. This is just another example of the Conservatives funnelling public money into private hands with Liberal help.

Never forget, however, they can't do it alone.

Any member of Council who votes to assist in the construction of an east mountain stadium now, regardless of where they originally thought a stadium should be located, is just as bad as the Federal and Provincial governments. In fact, they're worse, because those guys can't screw us unless City Council holds us down.

Becareful! This rumor might spread by "the other side" to make us lose support for the West Harbour! Shame on them !!!

> Tybalt August 06, 2010 15:28:54 Surely it can't be true indeed, because there is no way that the East Mountain stadium is in line with provincial planning priorities.

Genius insight. Again proving why he is hero to all of us.

It appears the whole story about the Feds denying funding unless the stadium is built on the EM is false.

Apperently, the federal sport minister has sent a message to the city saying that funding is not contingent on location. They will support the stadium where ever the city decides to put it.

The Spec is reporting this and promises follow ups.