Raise the Hammer

Well, I challenge you to head over to the Save Ivor Wynne website and browse the Stadium District tab.

I hear you that there are certainly more dire concerns in our city than a football stadium, but it's getting built.

I want to be engaged because I want to see the city work with - not against, people like Don Maga who is not only trying to start a business and clean up the area around the stadium, but he wants to build a commuinity centre-type project. Something the area desperately needs.

I want us to try to save the adjacent schools like Parkview and the programs that run out of there, or build a new one in it's place and incorporate it somehow into the stadium district.

Ya, it may revolve around a sports stadium but it can have a greater impact on social inclusion, poverty, city kids, etc. I spoke with Don and touched on how sadly ironic it was, that kids vandalized a building that was to be conformed into a place that will help get kids off our streets. It proves both that a community centre is desperately needed in the area, and how important the programs at Parkview are. Our family utilizes Kiwanis Boys and Girls Club alot and that facility is always hopping with activity. I am sure this new facility would be no different.

Partner with the boxing gym on Barton. Develop a music program at Parkview. Our band played there awhile back and those kids lined the gymnasium walls with amps and guitars. I don't care if they are learning math. If they are playing music, football over at Ivor Wynne with the Cats players, boxing on Barton, swimming at Jimmy Thompson or designing video games at Scott Park Community Centre - the kids are off the street, engaged, empowered, inspired, and we are finding ways to find what makes them tick, instead of them leaving school ticking time bombs.

Bottom line is that I want this project to be about more than just the Tiger-Cats and the building of the stadium itself.

This project will be a catalyst for a revitalized area around the stadium and Barton Street itself, if the community is heavily involved. I will guarantee that.

This will be something more if we all believe it will be and if we can be open-minded to the fact that this building will do more than just house the cats and a soccer team. It's a city-owned stadium nestled into a community. The more we ensure that stadium is deeply connected to it's community, the better we will feel about it's existance and money being spent on upgrades and maintenance.

The Tiger-Cats will want to work with us. Local businesses, churches, and not-for-profits will want to work with us. It's just a matter of whether city council has the appetite to make this about what we as a city want, and not what a handful of people appointed to oversee this project see as being best for us.

Comment edited by lawrence on 2011-06-03 17:47:21