Raise the Hammer

@Robert_d, agreed. All great letters. I too, even though I support this proposal and always have even though I never expected an Ivor Wynne project of this magnitude, do strongly agree that a secondary plan should also be presented to HostCo for a 6,000 seat stadium in case the IWS proposal is not approved. Hamilton deserves that funding either way. I also agree that West Harbor cannot be ignored after all that has gone down through this Pan Am process. I will say, and I forwarded the report with my letter to council late last night, that estimates for the work required to rebuild/modernize Ivore Wynne had already been done back in Feb of 2009. The 2007 City report on IWS also outlined how we would replace the south stands without play interuption so the reports exist, the costs just seemed to great at the time but they have obviously realized that they are much lower than new build costs, and there is truly a strong doundation already in place, for a great community project along Balsam Ave N. I don't know that things like soil remediation are even required with the scope of this project, but I am certainly no expert on this type of thing.

I think that the whole idea of an entertainment district is not part of this proposal, is a really good thing. Everything that has been stated revolves around an amaeur sports hub built into a professional football teams home field. I know I love just being in the presence of our old stadium so imagine how are children feel about it. Ever played at IWS? It's quite a feeling to play on the same field as our beloved Tiger-Cats so for these reasons and so many others, I think this is a vision that can only spur some very positive and exciting things for not just Ward 3, but for our entire city. Imagine those Delta High School kids who use Ivor Wynne as their home field, walking into this new Ivor Wynne? Wouldn't mind being a kid for one more day myself, to play on my old Barton Barons team in a championship game in the snow at a new Ivor Wynne against our rival Glendale Bears.