Here’s my take on the Pan-Am Stadium debate, comments welcome.
But what surprises me the most is the reaction of the West Harbour supporters, none of which actually live in the area itself. Most of those people are being ignored and their rights trampled. The people affected are having their homes expropriated and their businesses destroyed are being ignored.HostCo rules and regulations stipulate that the Stadium must have a legacy tenant/partner, the Tiger-Cats are it. The EMED (East Mountain Entertainment District) has one, and the WHSP (West Harbour Stadium Precinct) doesn't have one.Mayor Fred is the Architect of his own demise and should be held to account at the ballot box.That's why Games CEO Ian Troop gave Hamilton time to get their act together with the Tiger-Cats, or lose the Stadium and track events completely, even the Velodrome is now in question. IMHO,It should be severed from either proposed location and built right downtown, near Copps Coliseum.And any huge parking lots at the EMED could be paved with the latest permeable materials, that allow rain water to be absorbed by the ground underneath. Enviro-technology and construction have come a long way in recent years, whereas road construction has not.All the roads that run parallel to the Linc on the Mountain provide local access to this area, as well as at least four bus routes that originate from various nodes, like Gore Park or Limeridge Mall.
The bill For demolition (Rheem property) and soil remediation will dwarf councils contribution to the actual Stadium.Remediating contaminated soil is very expensive and only one location in Ontario is allowed to do it. Millions of metric tons will have to be shipped there by truck, and will be using inner-city truck routes to get to the closest highway out of town.
2 comments:
So Hamilton taxpayers will double the size of the stadium from 15,000 to 30,000 seats to serve a 10-day-a-year tenant who's putting up $15 million toward the "stadium precinct," which could very well mean building profit-generating big box franchise eateries around the perimeter of a 6,000-space parking lot that taxpayers will end up paying for and possibly paying again in the form of parking lot fees). Then there's $10 million put into operating the team out of the current stadium, so we won't count that. We're left with the money to be spent on another profit-generating sports franchise, money spent on bringing profit-generating events to the stadium, and a bid on a management contract for the facility's prime years, which could conceivably net the club all revenues associated with the facility (which, since it's brand new, would not suffer from much in the way of maintenance costs), while conceivably allowing them to calibrate their own rent. If Hamilton taxpayers were able to coerce government into such a sweetheart deal, this place would have a the per capita wealth of like Oakville. Unfortunately, someone is left paying the piper, and as with job creation in our boom sectors -- education ad health care -- it's the taxpayer. So by all means, double our financial commitment. We can't afford it anyway, and we've bled out our Future Fund, so we may as well build a really shiny political distraction from the matters at hand. As kind as it will be to the fortunes of the Ticats, the best case scenario for this facility is that it doesn't cost the city anything; it will, in all likelihood, not earn the city dime one. It does, however, give the city sentimental precedent for hiking taxes to pay for investing $60+ million in investment in the city's core.
WEST END: Labels like East Mountain and West Harbour distort the picture. Whatever its shortcomings may be, Rheem is NOT a west-end site, unless you are speaking about the west side of downtown. Consult a PDF map of Hamilton neighbourhood boundaries and you'll notice that Bay and Stuart is in the middle of the north end of the Central neighbourhood, Central being one of six neighbourhood areas to be found within Ward 2, the definitive downtown ward.
DOWNTOWN: Although Rheem itself isn't downtown, it is roughly 650m north of the Downtown BIA, roughly the length of six football fields; it is only 200m further from the border of the Downtown BIA than St. Joseph's Hospital is, and just as far from downtown as the Cats’ original home turf, the HAAA Grounds.
LOWER CITY: Ward 2 is certainly that, as it is located below the escarpment and its topography cascades progressively lower toward the harbour. Rheem itself is arguably located at Ward 2's lowest elevations outside of the north end.
I enjoy your contributions to local message boards and admire your commitment to the local political culture, but wanted to communicate these points of disagreement. Take them for what they're worth. Thank you for your time and enjoy the day.
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