Raise the Hammer

Does anyone care about these pie-in-the-sky plans for Ti-Cat-enriching development when we still don't know where the money for the stadium is going to come from?

More importantly, the biggest question on our minds should be: What amount of money is Bob Young and the Ti-Cats chipping in? Right now this is a project that is primarily a public one, so where's the capital from the private sector? Vague promises of sharing the costs of remediation, or finding private partners for the associated development totally obscure the fact that Bob & Co have not yet committed to anything other than a pittance for the stadium.

With almost 1,000 Hamiltonians currently walking a picket-line because of empty promises made by big corporations, we need our councillors to be wise and brave enough to start demanding some firm commitments from the Cats and for them to put their OWN money where their mouth is.

Comment edited by Borrelli on 2010-11-10 12:58:51

I think its one of those Chicken and Egg things. How do you get investors to pony up the dough without a location, yet a big part of picking a location is knowning how many investors are interested. I think firming up the location and seeing how is interested is really the only way to go at this point.

IMO It doesn't make a lot of sense for the City to finance a stadium and 'precinct' that will be developed to be in direct competion with the Convention Centre and HECFI.

Love how Mitchell and the Ticats referred to the Stadium and precinct being "in the core"...lol..not quite...

And the brochure (back) cover which announces that BY is pursuing a major league soccer team...but that's a lower case major league, not Major League Soccer as in MLS, but major league as in NASL or whatever glorified minor league he's going to bring to our fair city...

Or how they breathlessly announced that the stadium is "less than a kilometre from the proposed LRT!" So apparently they didn't want their fans to have to walk 500-700 metres from a car park in the core at WH, but now it's acceptable for them to walk a kilometre from the nearest LRT stop?! What happened to the driveway to driveway experience?

Andrea,

I have to agree with you completely. Any facility located that far to the West of the core will not create synergies, only completion with other city owned properties. That and the word 'Precinct' makes me want to barf.

Careport is one of the reasons HECFI cites for not being able to get more events into city properties. I was pleased to hear, although I'm not sure who the source was, that it wasn't going to be around much longer.

Now instead we learn it's going to probably expand and modernize, and continue to compete with HEFCI for events, likely with the slogan: "Come to Hamilton, but don't worry we're right by the highway, you won't even know you're in the city, and you definitely won't be close to the downtown and the 'strange' people down there."

The city should definitely be very concerned about this, as it might also effect the Whitestar Group's proposal to take over city-owned facilities, including Copps and Hamilton Place.

"the word 'Precinct' makes me want to barf"

Well, get ready to barf some more because it won't be long and we'll start to hear about how many "person years" of employment will be created. Jobs are always the last refuge for a project that lines the pockets of the few at the expense of the many (see airport lands, Maple Leaf Foods, Red Hill Expressway and the list goes on)

My bucket is ready and by my side realfreeenterpriser.

@Robert D

Have you been to the Careport centre?

It's a warehouse - the building was meant for storing skids and steel... as much as Continuum and the Carego Group (my employers) have tried to pretty it up, it's still a warehouse. The parking lot is made of dirt. The attendee entrance faces away from both the parking lot and the street, so you have to walk all the way around the massive building to get in.

If the HECFI can't compete with that, they have nobody to blame but themselves.

Careport's edge on Copps/Convention Centre essentially resides in its square footage and the fact that it arrived in the choking depths of recession, when decisions tend to get made on lowest bid. It seems like the HIA's warplane hangar only less glamorous... but why pretty it up when Mac put it on the short clock just after its inaugural event?

Though it's too early to judge the exact impact of something that's more rendering than reality, the proposed CP Facility would probably compete with HECFI facilities to some degree, which would suggest that taxpayers may get to underwrite both unless the private sector can be brought in substantially.

"Have you been to the Careport centre?

It's a warehouse - the building was meant for storing skids and steel... as much as Continuum and the Carego Group (my employers) have tried to pretty it up, it's still a warehouse. The parking lot is made of dirt. The attendee entrance faces away from both the parking lot and the street, so you have to walk all the way around the massive building to get in.

If the HECFI can't compete with that, they have nobody to blame but themselves."

BINGO!

The city should unload the money pit that is HECFI. Having 2 private enterprises compete for your convention and entertainment dollar can only be a good thing.