Raise the Hammer

Copied/pasted from the White Star Web Site --- http://www.whitestargroup.org/

Dear City of Hamilton Councilors,

"I believe that I do not speak incorrectly when I say without a doubt all councilors have always supported the eventual development of the West Harbour area. I do hope sincerely that our efforts were not found to be offensive to council but rather visionary and supportive to the City of Hamilton community. The West Harbour development initiative counts on your support. Attached is a letter in relation to my understanding of this matter." ~ Marino Rakovac

THE ISSUE IS NOT EAST VS WEST:

But Community Building

It is unfortunate that the necessity of the Tiger Cats to improve or replace their stadium has taken centre stage. It is and has always been a separate issue. The financial requirements for the stadium are far in excess of what this Pan Am opportunity can provide. A new way will have to be found in the future to accomplish the stadium requirements.

We must accept the conclusions of the Tiger Cat organization that they cannot be the tenants of a West Harbour venue. And also, that they just do not have the necessary capital to create a new stadium in a location of their choice.

We have relegated community building to secondary status in this ongoing football stadium debates.

It is essential to our community to develop the West Harbour in the format that we proposed. The opportunity that the Pan Am Games provide is one that we embrace and sincerely hope that at least some of the Pan Am facilities will be built in the West Harbour area along with our development plans.

The tenancies of the facilities in the future can be readily achieved and the venues can be built in a way to accommodate other entertainment/performance activities. The White Star Group would readily engage with the City of Hamilton to enter into an agreement to lease or manage the new facilities.

The soccer venue, with 15,000 seating capacity can easily be used for other entertainment purposes similar to the amphitheatre at Ontario Place which houses the same number of people. We are in the process of incorporating that extended vision into our plans without disrupting the recent vision that we suggested on August 2, 2010.

Our designs provide maximum flexibility and they can easily accommodate the Pan Am soccer venue in the existing format. By using our suggested ‘Venetian Plate’ method we could easily and economically add on or change the venue to suit other structures (i.e. stadiums, arenas, commercial developments, etc).

At this time the availability of investment capital to develop the West Harbor is tremendous.

The Tiger cats have made clear that they support the West Harbour community building developments but that they cannot be involved as tenants. Clearly the Future Fund, The Mayor, The White Star Group, a tremendous number of citizens, a good portion of the councilors and the facilitator all support the West Harbour development. If we accept the fact that the attempted incorporating of the football stadium into this Pan Am opportunity is just not feasible or possible then everything else will fall into place and much more funding will remain available for the development and revitalization of the West Harbor.

Our intention has always been the development of the West Harbour and not to contribute to the divisive elements that have characterized the debates. I wish the Tiger Cats well in their continued efforts in finding a new home. We remain loyal to the visions of a rejuvenated West Harbour area, which is good for our community at this time and long into the future.

We remain committed to infuse our own investment capital with the community of Hamilton to achieve the West Harbour goals.

Sincerely,

Marino Rakovac

White Star Group