Raise the Hammer

Mayor and council,

All of a sudden IWS is a suitable location for Bob Young! Sounds like it could be a great compromise.

But what are his motivations? Considering it underperforms WH on every single metric that Young touted as "WH deal killers" before, we should ask some questions before diving in.

First and foremost, is this a sign that the cats have nowhere else to go? And if so, then wouldn't it be prudent to consider that if we move forward with the plan that the citizens of hamilton support in vast majority - the one that we have voted over and over to approve, the ticats will have no choice but to come to the table and play at west harbour - their only other (extremely unlikely) option being to fold completely?

Why is this proposal costing so much on land that we already own - which needs minimal if any remediation?

Are the TiCats providing ANY funding for this? Or are we giving the whole thing to them as a gift?

How much surrounding land will become surface parking?

How much surrounding land will be developed in "big box store" style at profit to Bob Young?

What are the terms of the 20 year lease?

What happens to the WH land we already own? Will BY stand behind his previous promises to help fund that? If not, how will we afford to fix that land if we blow all of our funding on IWS?

Who gets to share in ancillary revenues? parking, concessions, etc?

Is there any tax income benefit to the city under this plan?

Does this accomplish any of our city building goals?

How does this affect Hamilton's amateur sport legacy?

Will we be able to build a permanent velodrome?

We had better get answers to these and more before even considering this last ditch plug.

Short of positive answers to all of these questions, I implore you - please vote for a scalable WH stadium. The Ticats WILL come to the table once we show them our strength as a city.

Don't let your citizens down. How many times do we have to speak before our voices are heard?