Raise the Hammer

@realitycheck --

I think a lot of commenters on this site (myself included) believe that investment in the WH, including remediating the land there, will spur private investors that are just itching to build there but cannot incur the costs of clean-up.

I cannot see investment in the IWS area spurring the same development. That said I have no objection to renovating IWS if that is what the majority of the residents of Hamilton want to see happen. What I do object to is the absolutely atrocious negotiating tatics shown by our mayor --that he was willing to appear at a press conference with the Ti-Cats knowing that they are claiming the cost of the stadium would be $115M, of which 100% would come from the fed/prov governments and Hamilton's Future Fund. That he would appear and announce a plan that is not costed and does not have any appropriate level of detail. Apparently he is now claiming there might be some "leftovers" available to the WH. All this and the PanAm legacy was supposed to be amateur athletics, not a new stadium for the Ti-Cats.

We do know the Ti-Cats claim to be unable to make money at IWS as things stand -- even with a sweetheart nominal rental agreement with the city. So it stands to reason that the Ti-Cats will be wanting a "management fee" to operate IWS, likely parking fees and naming rights, etc. (they have been demanding that at every location under consideration so far).

All this for no capital investment into this new stadium.

These are the only facts we have been given so far and a lot of folks are not comfortable that council will be asked to make a decision on this tonight.

I fail to see how pointing out the facts is "anti-Ti-Cat". I also have not seen any conspiracy theories on RTH -- please could you post some of them so I can enjoy them (love me a good conspiracy in the morning).