Raise the Hammer

@myrcurial,

I am naughty for not working right now but this saga gets curiousier and curiousier every day and I can't help myself.

I assure you that I am not setting up strawmen for you to tear down :) Just saying that some people of different generations grew up with a car/suburb mentality and may not see the writing on the wall that those days are rapidly coming towards an end. In fact, judging from the line-ups to buy suburban McMansions in Oakville/Milton many people of our generation have yet to get that message as well. They will. (But that's a seperate discussion, of course).

I am suggesting that when those people are presented with facts and truth they tend to catch the vision. Unfortunately Hamilton's traditional media has not been very stellar in reporting the facts in this whole stadium debate and people like my father were not given the opportunity to understand the vision that WH proponents have.

I think the WH vision is superior to IWS because it is an area crying out for private investment. However, the land needs remediation and there aren't many private investors able to do it. These PanAm dollars are a once-in-a-generation gift from the province and feds that we can use (augmented by our future fund) to remediate the land and build a community stadium/velodrome. Once we do this, there is a huge opportunity to attract condo developers and attract young professionals into Hamilton's Ward 2. Thus increasing urban density and attracting the spin-off private businesses that entails.

I don't think many will argue that renovating IWS will attract condo dwellers and private investors (outside of those associated with Bob Young's entertainment precinct).

If a stadium-based entertainment precinct was such a brilliant business idea, there already would be one surrounding IWS. The fact is that there are not that many home games in a year. There needs to be more than a stadium to attract people -- the WH offers that.