Raise the Hammer

@justsayin.

How engaged have you been in this process? Have you not seen the many renditions of what a WH stadium could look like? Have you not seen White Stars virtual tour of what a WH stadium could be like? It's not the City of Hamilton's job to teach a private business how to "sell" itself.

I will try to spell it out for you again. Bob Young and Scott Mitchell are clearly NOT INTERESTED in participating in any stadium that they do not have %100 control over revenue streams and site selection. This was a powerplay and a badly constructed and managed one at that. Someone somewhere has convinced them that the only way to make money is by clinging to a decades old philosophy of building sport stadia on the periphery of cities, near highways with acres of parking. Its a dead exercise in urban planning unless you are Jerry Jones and are prepared to finance a billion dollars on your own. When you are using essentially 100% public money to construct a stadium, you should just say thank you and go about the business of planning how to be successful there. Particularly when despite all of your protestations to the selected site you have still yet to produce A SINGLE DOCUMENT SUPPORTING YOUR ARGUMENT.

The West Harbour site has been voted on SEVEN TIMES by council. It won SEVEN TIMES. Mr Young was "caretaker" of the TiCats for the majority of those votes. If he had an issue with the site he had ample opportunity to lobby for another. The Future Fund money that is/was available IS CLEARLY EARMARKED for city building initiatives and particularly downtown renewal. Let me ask you. WHAT PART OF THIS EQUATION HAVE THE TIGER CATS NOT BEEN ABLE TO FIGURE OUT? Yes that was rhetorical, and I will answer. Of course they knew what the deal was. They decided to try and end run and bet that public attachment to their team would pressure council into making a bad deal for the city at the benefit of the TiCats.

They fumbled. They presented various absurd concocted schemes to try and buy off council. Remember the waterfront amphitheater? The soccer academy?, the $10,000,000 towards construction (borrowed of course and paid back over 10 years). What they failed to produce, were ANY private sector partners or investors, ANY plan as to how much if any public access would be available to the stadium.

I attend games. I have been in the past a season ticket holder for most of my life. You partly answered your own question and defeated your own argument with your statement. Why did you only attend 2 games? Is Ivor Wynne so awful you couldn't bear to go again? Could you not buy a beer? Get something to eat? Park within a ten minute walk? Or was it because the team had a better than even chance of stinking the joint out? I would argue that THAT is the reason there were and ARE regularly a few to more than a few thousand seats empty on a regular basis. Have you been to Molson stadium in Montreal? It's a dump. With NO onsite parking at the top of old Mount Royal in the heart of the city. IT'S PACKED EVERY GAME. Something like 84 consecutive sellouts. Why? BECAUSE THE ALOUETTES just win.

My point of view has failed? I don't think so. My point of view has been WH or no Future Fund money for a new stadium. Should either happen I'm ok with it. My city and what happens here is more important to me than the Tiger Cats (despite the fact I bleed black and gold). And please don't prattle on about civic pride blah blah. I am proud that council is apparently not going to cave to a private business that has not a large economic foot print on the city. Based on simple fact, there are about 22,000 people (including myself) that regularly attend TiCat games. There are 500,000 plus of us that live in this city. Council is responsible to all of them.

If and until the Tiger Cats are willing to participate in this process with honesty and integrity not one dime of public money should be utilized to satisfy their needs.

If and until the Tiger Cats can regularly sell out the building that they play in..... not one dime of public money should be used to satisfy their needs.

If and until the Tiger Cats can show the city they have private partners willing to invest in their business .....not one dime of public money to satisfy their needs.

The Tiger Cats are a private business that already recieves a more than generous arrangement with the city. They should perhaps spend more time and effort building that business than trying to execute a coup d'etat over public policy

Comment edited by Shempatolla on 2010-12-26 09:07:07