Raise the Hammer

The following is a link to the City of Hamilton staff report to be presented to Hamilton city council at the Committee of the Whole meeting tomorrow: http://hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/C528CBF6...

It is somewhat disappointing that history has been rewritten in this most recent city staff report:

1. In their "Chronology of Pan Am Reports and Milestones" (on page 5), they have omitted mention of the February 23, 2009 Committee of the Whole Meeting. That just happens to be the meeting where city council voted for the first time to spend $60 Million on the Pan Am Games as well as a preference for the west harbour stadium site. Tiger-Cat president Scott Mitchell made a presentation to city council at that meeting. He said the team needed a minimum of 22,000 seats with 26,000 to 27,000 being ideal. He did not say that the Tiger-Cats would never play at the west harbour. He did not say the Tiger-Cats required a 60 acre parking lot. Bob Young did not attend that meeting. Here is the link to the Minutes of that meeting with the summary of Mr. Mitchell's presentation on page 5.

http://hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/C528CBF6...

1. The chronology does not mention the move of the athletics stadium from Hamilton to York University or the reasons why it happened (one of which was the Tiger-Cats' insistence on removing the track after the Pan Am Games). The loss of Athletics Canada as a possible legacy tenant was a significant milestone which weakened the city's negotiating position with the Tiger-Cats. Athletics Canada should have had a seat at the facilitation table.

So, here we are. After nineteen months of planning, city staff has succumbed to two months of bullying from the Tiger-Cats and no longer recommends the west harbour stadium site and city council will probably follow suit tomorrow. With an apparent two week extension from HostCo to firm up the stadium plans, it looks as though it will be Aberdeen and Longwood Road or nothing for Hamilton. Many questions remain. How much of the McMaster Innovation Park will be sacrificed to get this stadium constructed? Will Bob Young and Scott Mitchell finally produce some financial disclosure? Do Bob Young and Scott Mitchell still require a 60 acre parking lot and, if so, where will it be built and at whose cost? Who will pay the extra $50 Million to increase the stadium capacity from 15,000 to 25,000? Is it easier now for the Tiger-Cats to leave town if an agreement cannot be reached because the city is taking the "scaleable stadium" option off the table and the funding that would have gone with it becomes portable to another city? The saga continues.