Raise the Hammer

This post is about the need for clarity about the plans for the $152.5 Million Pan Am Stadium.

On June 1, 2011, the Hamilton Pan Am Stadium Subcommittee established its terms of reference and they defined the scope of the stadium precinct. Here are a few excerpts from that meeting:

“Mayor Bratina discussed the legacy issue and the need to address not just the building of the stadium but the precinct around it.”

“Co-Chair Morelli indicated that it would be his intention that this Sub-committee would deal with the full precinct and not just the Stadium. This would include the areas of Parkview, Scott Park, the pool, and the railway platforms. To accomplish this Co-Chair Morelli indicated that the Terms of Reference should have a wider scope.” http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/8124...

The Pan Am Stadium Subcommittee Terms of Reference were approved by council at a GIC meeting on June 13, 2011: http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/C942...

Questions:

1. Did the decision to entirely rebuild Ivor Wynne Stadium happen before or after the GIC meeting on June 13, 2011?

2. If the decision was made by Infrastructure Ontario, Toronto 2015, city representatives and the Tiger-Cats prior to the GIC Meeting on June 13, 2011, why didn’t they tell council so that the Pan Am Stadium Subcommittee Terms of Reference could be discussed and amended before they were approved by council?

3. Has Mayor Bratina or anyone from city council, city staff or the Tiger-Cats ever disclosed to Toronto 2015 CEO Ian Troop and Infrastructure Ontario that the GO Train platform being planned at Gage Avenue North as part of the Ivor Wynne Pan Am Stadium precinct is only a block away from the new Hell’s Angels clubhouse at Gage Avenue North and Beach Road that opened in June, 2011? If not, why not? http://www.thespec.com/news/local/articl...

4. Why wasn’t this important fact discussed at the GIC Meeting June 13, 2011 before council approved the Stadium precinct Terms of Reference?

5. Why didn’t council discuss this important fact before confirmation of the Ivor Wynne Pan Am Stadium proposal was forwarded to Infrastructure Ontario on September 15, 2011 and the Request For Proposals went out from Infrastructure Ontario to the construction bid teams on September 22, 2011? http://www1.infrastructureontario.ca/en/...

Hamilton has already been nationally and internationally embarrassed due to the loss of the main Pan Am athletics stadium and the public denigration of the original west harbour Pan Am stadium and velodrome site which had been an integral part of the successful Toronto Pan Am Games bid in 2009. Unless some drastic improvements can be made to the Ivor Wynne Pan Am Stadium precinct plans, this city runs the risk of even greater embarrassment. Visitors from across Canada and from 41 other Pan Am countries are expected to visit us in 2015. Do we really want them entering and exiting a GO platform located a block away from a biker headquarters or to make a 10 minute walk up Gage Avenue North to get to and from the stadium? If our Pan Am guests choose instead to drive or take a taxi or local public transit to the stadium, do we want them to see intermittent patches of severe urban blight along the five kilometre stretches of King, Cannon and Barton streets between the downtown and the stadium? The current Ivor Wynne Pan Am Stadium plan is clearly inferior to the original west harbour stadium plan but it is now a done deal. The mayor, city council, the Tiger-Cats, Toronto 2015 and Infrastructure Ontario will need to work very hard over the next four years to solve or at least mitigate the egregious problems inherent in their current Ivor Wynne Pan Am Stadium plan.

Comment edited by RenaissanceWatcher on 2011-09-24 11:21:28