Raise the Hammer

The location has not been decided for the Veledrome, so a Veledrome in the Harbour can do what a scalable stadium would do there.

A small-scale stadium plan at IWS does two things:

1. Preserves the sports legacy at 75 Balsam.
2. Propose to HostCo to build a non-scalable 6,000 seat stadium at the IWS grounds. The cost would seemingly be way less than a harbour stadium and would also address the removal costs of the old stadium. If the Cats somehow chose to play ball with us after we secure our $70M form the feds which I assume would nix the Aldershot plan, the money can go to upgrades to Ivor Wynne instead of a 6,000 seat stadium. Make sure our propsal states that should the Cats decide to swat at our ball of yarn, we would excercise the option to extend their lease beyond 2011.

In the meantime, once the deal is final, we remove Brian Timmis and even just gravel it over for now, to let the Cats see how perhaps even just a 1,000+ extra parking spots, changes the dynamics at 75 Balsam. Then, if the Board of Ed chooses to close Parkview, put a hold on a sale as an option for a multi-level parking garage, to further show what can be done to improve the business case of Ivor Wynne as the future home of a CFL franchise.

Ivor Wynne is 5 minutes from 403/QEW/Red Hill access. Make Sherman Avenue two way and you have two major city thoroughways (Gage Ave as well), that divert traffic to and from Burlington St, which in itself is a smaller scale freeway.

If the powers that be don't see Ivor Wynne as a future home of professional sports, IWS is the most centrallly accessible stadium for a community venue. It already serves this purpose very well. This map (once again), shows how transit wise, there are few locations in this city like it. I didn't know about the GO plans when I did this map. Put the interchange at Gage instead of Centennial.

Ask the community that currently uses IWS, what they think.

Comment edited by lawrence on 2011-01-07 13:49:11