Raise the Hammer

A very poignant send up, Graham. Well done.

One also needs to look at the Tiger-Cats' projected net economic impact on the City of Hamilton over the next ten years. The positive economic impact must be weighed any negative economic impact of the Tiger-Cats on the City of Hamilton over the past next ten years.

During the past seven months, the Tiger-Cats have demanded the removal of the stadium track after the Pan Am Games and a stadium location further away from the proposed GO train platform near the James Street North station. This resulted in the forfeiture of the Pan Am athletics stadium to York University and the following projected future economic losses for the City of Hamilton:

1. Four to five days of Pan Am soccer events instead of seven days of Pan Am athletics events;

2. Approximately two hundred Pan Am soccer players and their families visiting Hamilton during the Pan Am Games instead of a thousand or more Pan Am track and field athletes and their families visiting Hamilton;

3. Losing the unique opportunity to promote Hamilton’s reclaimed waterfront and the Royal Botanical Gardens to a national and international audience during the running of the Pan Am men’s and women’s marathons;

4. The loss of a long-term legacy relationship with Athletics Canada for a high performance training centre in Hamilton for the next ten years and beyond;

5. Lost opportunities for national and international track and field competitions in Hamilton for the next ten years and beyond.

It would be quite useful if someone like Marvin Ryder could place a value on these negative economic impacts to determine the net economic impact of the Tiger-Cats on the City of Hamilton over the next ten years.

And then, there are the intangibles. The anti-west harbour stadium campaign launched by the Tiger-Cats with the assistance of Bill Kelly of CHML seven months ago has created divisions between people and areas of the City of Hamilton that had never existed so deeply in the history of this city as they do now. The resulting move of the Pan Am athletics stadium to York University will be nationally and internationally embarrassing to the City of Hamilton for the next five to ten years. And the recent national media blitz by Bob Young, Scott Mitchell and Ron Foxcroft to pitch the east mountain stadium site while ignoring or denigrating the west harbour site selected by Hamilton city council mocked and sullied the local Hamilton democratic process. These intangible detriments to the City of Hamilton can only be healed through time, not dollars.

Comment edited by RenaissanceWatcher on 2010-09-16 18:56:55