Raise the Hammer

This might be one of those decisions which in fact, is not ours to make. Don't forget, there are other "partners" who may pull the rug out. There are criteria for funding which we may or may not, meet. We have no control over the back room discussions which will take place among the other levels of government and Hostco (and others). So if we "lose" the stadium - don't be surprised - we'll have to just accept it and move on.

But really, would that be such a bad thing? The velodrome is still a valuable project. Mark Chamberlain said at the rally we could turn Hamilton into a "cycling city". What a great idea! We already have some credibility in that we have successfully hosted an international competition.

If the stadium funding falls through (and i suggest that there is still a reasonable chance that this will happen), we should hold our council's feet to the fire and ensure that reasonable, sustainable development occurs on the west harbour as soon as possible. I actually thought the caretaker's suggestion of an amphiteatre was a good one. Something modelled after the old Ontario Place forum (seating 3500 -5000) would be perfect and the scale would be more in keeping with the size of our city.

The other advantage to the scuttling of the new stadium would be the cost savings. We're talking about a stadium here folks - not a hospital or a school or youth centres. The 60 million or so we intend to put to this project would go a long way to alleviating some pain that people in our city live with on a daily basis and could enhance the quality of life for all.

Some thoughts on how this was handled by city council: Once the decision was made in February 2010 to go with West Harbour - that should have been it! The caretaker was part of the process and was aware of the decision. His 11th hour demands were a classic example of bad faith bargaining and put our elected representatives in a difficult position. But instead of saying "no - the decision is made" council and the mayor tried to appease the owner of "a small retail business". This resulted in delay, embarrassment and additional, significant cost. For instance, any fool could see that the parking was a red herring. Instead, we appear to have hired not one, but two, consultants who , at great expense no doubt, provided detailed traffic flow analyses. What a waste of money - why wouldn't the caretaker provide this info on his own?

One happy by product of all of this is the ascendancy of RTH as a powerful force for civic change. Bravo to Ryan et al for your efforts and the dozens of posters on this site who love this City. No doubt, there are hundreds of others who read these comments regularly and are affected and influenced by them and hopefully, encouraged to act.

There will be other issues facing us as a community. We now have the confidence,courage and ability to make our voices heard. Quoting from Mr. Chamberlain again "this is the day that Hamilton 'Grew Up!".