Once again the opportunity for Hamilton to think big has once again left a bad taste in our mouths. It's that same taste of an expressway that was almost studied to death. It's that taste of a promising vision of an rapid transit system in Hamilton, to have it shelved at the last minute by our mayor.
The best metaphor for this would be in the form of a monarch butterfly. It looks beautiful, almost as majestic as its name purports itself to be. It is resilient and unique. Next thing you know, it all goes south, leaving you with that incredibly bad taste in your mouth, that birds recognize enough to leave alone. But then there's always that one stupid bird that decides that maybe things will be different. That bird is us. We take another kick at the can and come out sickened.
The stadium reveal and design should have been meant to give us something special to look forward to. It should have been an exciting moment. But it ended up more of a dog than a dog and pony show. I watched the reveal on Tigervision at Ivor Wynne Stadium. And it was indeed a disappointment.
Gone was a grand vision of a cathedral of a stadium, one which the White Star Group actually dared us to dream of. Gone was the number of seats, from a 30,000 seat stadium, degraded to a 22,000 seater. Gone was the parking, from over 500 spots, to 200 spots, if you're lucky. As usual, our city took an opporunity to dream big, turned it right on its head and just left it in shambles. It was a rude awakening indeed. And it was just as depressing see the disappointment during a disappointment in itself, namely watching our Hamilton Tiger-Cats, once the home of defensive legends, dishonour that great tradition by getting shredded left, right and center by a virtually flawless BC Lion passing attack. It was barely Tiger-Cat football, at least it wasn't the kind of football we've all been accustom to seeing.
Yes it was a disappointment and it was not surprising at all either. We knew that as soon as the conversation returned to Ivor Wynne, it wouldn't end good at all. We would return to the same problems that plague the current stadium. And that has all been confirmed.
Yes, this city desperately needs a mayor that will dream big. Bob Bratina doesn't cut it. Fred Eisenberger will bore us to death. And Larry DiIanni would still make a better kingmaker than a king. The past belongs in the past. Time to move forward.
So who is it that has the audacity to think big? Maybe the picture will become clearer in two years. One thing is for sure - the next mayor still needs to be an outsider. All that mayors that were previous councillors have done is simply disappoint. We don't need to settle for this.
