Raise the Hammer

Dear Mayor and Councillors:

I am writing to express my support for your efforts in revitalizing the West Harbour and downtown. A new stadium on the waterfront, a new view of the city would go far to change Hamilton's image nationwide. It would be a source of civic pride and, located close to the downtown, would encourage citizens and visitors to discover downtown's unique attractions.

Please don't forget that this plan, years in the making, had justified the realease of our Future Fund on the basis of waterfront development and downtown revitalization.

The Tiger Cats' proposal for an east mountain stadium accomplishes none of those objectives; rather, it detracts from them. In the same way downtown has suffered from suburban investments in malls, power centres and subdivisions, downtown will suffer from a distant suburban stadium. This so-called compromise solution sacrifices all of the City's objectives and is no more deserving of city funds than a Wal-Mart store in the same location. I ask that you treat the Hamilton Tiger Cats no differently from a developer such as Smart Centres when it comes to planning decisions.

For many decades, our entire city has suffered from disinvestment in the downtown core, to the sole benefit of suburban developers and their narrow interests. The Tiger-Cats organization has shown itself willing to be part of this cycle; I have faith that as elected officials in charge of public funds, in the City's best interest, will not.

There is simply no defense for this location in the context of Hamilton's and the Province of Ontario's policy objectives such as GRIDS, Vision 2020, the Transportation Master Plan, and Places to Grow. To make this clear, here are some examples:

Intensification: The East Mountain stadium would spur development on the very periphery of the city at the expense of feasible infill projects. Reducing automobile use: The ORC site is primarily accessible by automobile and would increase automobile use. Increasing transit ridership: The ORC site is about as far as possible from any current or proposed rapid transit. Ridiculous, off-the-cuff claims of future service by Metrolinx are not even worth reading. Let's not entertain the idea of altering our rapid transit plans to this sparse, far flung corner of the city when we face enough challenges getting rapid transit where we need it. Any transit service to the East Mountain will be of the lowest order, buses running in mixed traffic, and offer no advantage over the private automobile.

Finally, one enormous fact bears repeating: An East Mountain stadium would accomplish ZERO of the City's objective in revitalization and image enhancement.

Make no mistake, the East Mountain proposal flies in the face of City policy objectives on so many fronts, we cannot in good conscience commit public funds to it.

Sincerely, Jonathan Dalton