Shut Up and Let's Get a Deal Done!

Now that the city will study and determine how a stadium could be built at the Longwood location and they will try in earnest, having learned from city manager Glen Murray what we all should have known all along:  no Ti-Cats, no stadium. 

Fred Eisenberger didn't listen the first time around so he was told again just in case he forgot.  The urban planning/city building fetishists didn't listen, claiming that they were "standing up to a bully."  I am still trying to figure out this logic, because what we all know is that Bob Young was basically told that the west harbour was where the stadium would be and for that reason the Ti-Cats just walked away from the talks, because there was nothing to talk about.  That's not where they wanted to be and with no alternative offered, why bother talking?  After all, there's lost revenue in parking and other incidentals that the Ti-Cats could use to get more money from people who drive.  And those who were gasping about this "cash grab" probably never drove to the games, to play that famous game of parking roulette which has been such a pain for the regional goers that they finally decided that enough was enough.  But once again, I digress.

So the Ti-Cats and the city are talking again about building a stadium at the McMaster Innovation Park.  While there is some merit to it, there's some concerns. 

One of them is noise, which is silly.  There is a freeway beside the site and no residential property within a half a kilometre, including the newly developed homes around the Chedoke golf course.  Perhaps they should try living on Balsam, Melrose, Beechwood or the other roads around there to get a taste of what the neighbours have been putting up with for decades.  The stadium won't be that close to them so they should just quit while they still have some credibility.

Traffic is another issue and one which has always been an issue no matter what site it is.  West Harbour claims to have better access, but the roads are hardly multi-lane so you could beat that dead horse for a while, but nothing changes the facts.  And of course there's parking to contend with as well.

It just seems that when there is a spot, somebody is always whining in some way.  But it's not because it's promoting sprawl and it's not because it isn't in a downtown location.  It's not because houses will get torn down to make way for it.  It's not because it isn't directly accessible from a major freeway.  It's not because it's a greenfield.  Now it's because it's supposedly prime employment land.  But haven't we figured this out already?  If you build it, they may not come at all.  While there is a plan to build an automotive innovation laboratory, they are still waiting for the grant to come so it may not get built at all.

Then comes an explosive allegation from Bob Bratina that a lot of the businesses that are at MIP actually moved from downtown.  So rather than bring new businesses into town as MIP was expected to do, they actually had businesses move in from the downtown core, increasing the vacancy rate there.  So as Coucillor Bratina has said, MIP hasn't really fulfilled its mandate so by that token, there is an opportunity to relieve the group of some land so they can avoid the pressure in having to get more empty buildings over there. 

Councillor Ferguson brought this initiative forward and is to be commended for bringing the Ti-Cats back to the table.  He did this because he got word that MIP was willing to help the city keep the Ti-Cats in Hamilton so I am not sure what the West Harbour crowd is screaming about, because the MIP people are willing to discuss this.

It's as if they are trying to ensure that the MIP are not being taken for a ride by "Big Bad Bob Young" who is really incapable of hurting a fly, but apparently can really hurt your feelings.  Yes, the whole thing is pathetic, but what were we expecting?

Honestly, I am expecting people to shut up for the next couple of weeks and let the big boys sort it out.  That's why they get our big bucks.  And I expect Fred Eisenberger to be an honest player in this because it is through his doing that the stadium project was at the edge of the cliff.  And I also expect people to quit whining about Mark Cohon approaching the feds about the stadium matter.  You had to know that he was going to approach someone in a matter regarding a member team.  The CFL is a cultural organization and anything matter than involves federal funding and the CFL becomes a national matter.  Deal with it people.

There's enough sour grapes in this matter to drive us all off a cliff, so let's just take a step back and let things settle for all our sakes.