Hamilton City Hall Drops The Ball

In the business world when someone is willing to invest up to $74 million in a project, you try to work with that person for the benefit of all. That's not the case where Hamilton city council is concerned. I'm talking about the West Harbour fiasco of course. Mayor Fred Eisenberger and all but 3 city councilors basicly killed a 141 year tradition in Hamilton by ignoring the wishes of Tiger Cat owner Bob Young and voting to have the new stadium built at the West Harbour site.

One of the first sites to be considered for the new stadium was at Confederation Park but that was quickly shot down by councilor Chad Collins and the vote was pushed right through without any sort of debate. That left the West Harbour and the East Mountain locations. After an 11 hour last minute debate,  Hamilton council backs West Harbour stadium .  Bob Young, the Hamilton Ti-Cats and all their loyal fans got screwed. Royaly.

The vote of course did not sit well with Mr. Young. Ticats owner calls stadium decision 'massive mistake'  was the headline the following day. A massive mistake is not exactly what I would call it. A fiasco of epic proportion. The death knoll to the Cats. Another downtown white elephant to the city. Take your pick. There are more I could come up with but you get the idea. The topper in this was when  CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon threw his support for Bob Young and the Ticats in the dispute

The area chosen is a toxic waste land. I worked at the plant that sits in the midst of the site. It would cost millions to clean the area up even before construction can begin. What about run off after the stadium is built? There's no telling how far down the toxic sludge runs.

As I said above, I worked there for some time and I am well acquainted with the streets and what the traffic is like. On a regular business day traffic can get to be a pain. Some say it's close to the highway. IT'S NOT. Once you are able to get away from the immediate area, it's another 10 or 15 minute drive to the highway on-ramp.

On July 1st, Canada Day, Hamilton had a fireworks display for the citizens. There were approximately 300 to 350 people in attendance. What follows is a video of what took place after the fireworks display was over.

Video compliments of meejoebee at YouTube

Take a good look at the amount of traffic. Now imagine what it would be like after a football game with about 25 to 35 thousand fans. A nightmare to be sure.

As a friend of mine stated, the Mayor of this city will become known as "The Man Who Lost This City Their Team".