In case you haven't been following, there has been a great war raging in Hamilton over the site of a proposed Pan American Games stadium that would also be the future home of the Hamilton TiCats CFL team. Anyone who has been following my twitter feed will know that I'm a supporter of the West Harbour location, a progressive site in the age of Peak Oil, environmental awareness, and urban reorganization. The TiCats have argued for a site in the suburbs of Hamilton stating that their fans want a "driveway to driveway" experience and that they will lose money at the West Harbour site. The point of this post is not to argue one way or another. You can see the differing opinions at the following two websites:
- Our City, Our Future (West Harbour - City's preferred site)
- Go East Mountain (East Mountain - TiCats preferred site)
The folks over at Our City, Our Future have done a tremendous job of running a grass roots campaign for the West Harbour and have amassed over 3,400 supporters to date. They have asked for supporters to begin emailing our elected representatives at the provincial and federal levels as well as the members of the Pan Am Host Committee. My email to these representatives is after the jump...
Hello elected representatives,
I am emailing you today to express my sincere support behind the City of Hamilton's decision to choose the West Harbour site for the location of the proposed Pan Am games stadium. The city was able to come to an informed decision that makes sense not just for a few private interests, but for the greater good of all citizens of the City of Hamilton. As you know, this has been a very divisive issue within the city, but I think it's important that the actual facts, not mis-representative myths, are remembered:
- There are over 4,700 confirmed parking spots within walking distance of the West Harbour.
- The West Harbour and its nearby parking lots are accessible via several major, multi-lane streets from several directions.
- The West Harbour is also easily accessible by municipal transit (including planned east-west and north-south LRT lines), regional transit (with a planned GO Train stop st LIUNA Station), walking, cycling, and even by boat from the Harbour. For more on West Harbour accessibility, read The Myth Of The Inaccessible Stadium.
- Consulting firms hired by the city have carefully prepared a business case for the West Harbour stadium, and a plan for transportation and traffic management for the site. The claim that the city has failed to demonstrate the suitability of the West Harbour is false.
- Meanwhile, the Ticats have yet to produce a business case demonstrating why the West Harbour will not work for them.
Certain members of influence and in the media have been critical of the City's decision without a clear understanding of the situation. The West Harbour site fits with Ontario's urban plans for cities and Hamilton's own future vision of the city not to mention greater trends around the world towards promoting smarter, environmentally friendly cities. I send this email with the hope that you provide City Council with the support they need and deserve in this pivotal time and to ensure that Hamilton's future is secure.
Sincerely,
Derek Weidl, A concerned citizen of Hamilton, Ontario
If you want to help out, visit Our City, Our Future and become a supporter. Also, check out their email to supporters below:
We all breathed a well-deserved sigh of relief last week when City Council voted decisively to reaffirm their commitment to the West Harbour Pan Am stadium location as the best place to invest our Future Fund in the interests of our future.
This was such an important victory of the public interest over narrow private interests that it drew praise from both Toronto Mayor David Miller and the Globe and Mail's editorial board, among other national and international supporters.
But the campaign is far from over. The Tiger-Cats still refuse to return to the bargaining table to work out a deal with the City, and a handful of their well-connected supporters, along with many in the sports media, are busy spreading misinformation about the West Harbour and heaping ridicule on the Councillors who voted for it.
They're predicting - one might even say hoping - that Hamilton will lose the Pan Am stadium altogether.
We have to make sure that doesn't happen.
The Province has confirmed and reconfirmed that it will support City Council's decision on where to put the stadium. The Federal Government, after a bizarre claim surfaced that it would only fund an East Mountain stadium, quickly clarified that it, too, will support Council's decision.
Pan Am HostCo, the committee that oversees the games, still has to approve the West Harbour location, but it is the Provincial and Federal Governments, as well as Hamilton itself, that will foot the bill.
We need to send a clear message to HostCo, Queen's Park and Ottawa that we expect them to keep their promise. We don't appreciate the Ticats putting words in our elected officials' mouths, and we hope that our elected officials don't like it either.
We also need to counter the false claims flying around by reaffirming the facts:
We need to counter that with the only tools we have: an open, public citizens' campaign calling on HostCo, Queen's Park and Ottawa to follow through with their promise to honour local democracy and accept the final vote of our City Council.
2. Contact your local representatives at the federal level. Click here to email David Sweet, Dean Allison, and Gary Lunn, Minister of State (Sport) from the governing Conservative party, as well as David Christopherson, Wayne Marston and Chris Charlton.
3. Contact the Pan Am Games Host Committee (HostCo). Click here to email all of them.
4. Contact all of them at once! Click here to do that.
If you have any problem with the links provided above, here are the email addresses so you can cut and paste them.
Provincial reps:
ahorwath-qp@ndp.on.ca, pmiller-qp@ndp.on.ca, saggelonitis.mpp.co@liberal.
Federal reps:
info@davidsweet.ca, Christopherson.D@parl.gc.ca, Marston.W@parl.gc.ca, Charlc@parl.gc.ca, info@deanallison.ca, Lunn.G@parl.gc.ca
Pan Am HostCo:
Roger.garland@toronto2015.org, Marcel.aubut@toronto2015.org, Sylvie.bernier@toronto2015.org
This was such an important victory of the public interest over narrow private interests that it drew praise from both Toronto Mayor David Miller and the Globe and Mail's editorial board, among other national and international supporters.
But the campaign is far from over. The Tiger-Cats still refuse to return to the bargaining table to work out a deal with the City, and a handful of their well-connected supporters, along with many in the sports media, are busy spreading misinformation about the West Harbour and heaping ridicule on the Councillors who voted for it.
They're predicting - one might even say hoping - that Hamilton will lose the Pan Am stadium altogether.
We have to make sure that doesn't happen.
The Province has confirmed and reconfirmed that it will support City Council's decision on where to put the stadium. The Federal Government, after a bizarre claim surfaced that it would only fund an East Mountain stadium, quickly clarified that it, too, will support Council's decision.
Pan Am HostCo, the committee that oversees the games, still has to approve the West Harbour location, but it is the Provincial and Federal Governments, as well as Hamilton itself, that will foot the bill.
We need to send a clear message to HostCo, Queen's Park and Ottawa that we expect them to keep their promise. We don't appreciate the Ticats putting words in our elected officials' mouths, and we hope that our elected officials don't like it either.
We also need to counter the false claims flying around by reaffirming the facts:
- There are over 4,700 confirmed parking spots within walking distance of the West Harbour.
- The West Harbour and its nearby parking lots are accessible via several major, multi-lane streets from several directions.
- The West Harbour is also easily accessible by municipal transit (including planned east-west and north-south LRT lines), regional transit (with a planned GO Train stop st LIUNA Station), walking, cycling, and even by boat from the Harbour. For more on West Harbour accessibility, read The Myth Of The Inaccessible Stadium.
- Consulting firms hired by the city have carefully prepared a business case for the West Harbour stadium, and a plan for transportation and traffic management for the site. The claim that the city has failed to demonstrate the suitability of the West Harbour is false.
- Meanwhile, the Ticats have yet to produce a business case demonstrating why the West Harbour will not work for them.
We need to counter that with the only tools we have: an open, public citizens' campaign calling on HostCo, Queen's Park and Ottawa to follow through with their promise to honour local democracy and accept the final vote of our City Council.
What You Can Do
1. Contact your local representatives at the provincial level. Click here to email Ted McMeekin and Sophia Aggelonitis from the governing Liberal Party, as well as Andrea Horwath and Paul Miller.2. Contact your local representatives at the federal level. Click here to email David Sweet, Dean Allison, and Gary Lunn, Minister of State (Sport) from the governing Conservative party, as well as David Christopherson, Wayne Marston and Chris Charlton.
3. Contact the Pan Am Games Host Committee (HostCo). Click here to email all of them.
4. Contact all of them at once! Click here to do that.
If you have any problem with the links provided above, here are the email addresses so you can cut and paste them.
Provincial reps:
ahorwath-qp@ndp.on.ca, pmiller-qp@ndp.on.ca, saggelonitis.mpp.co@liberal.
Federal reps:
info@davidsweet.ca, Christopherson.D@parl.gc.ca, Marston.W@parl.gc.ca, Charlc@parl.gc.ca, info@deanallison.ca, Lunn.G@parl.gc.ca
Pan Am HostCo:
Roger.garland@toronto2015.org, Marcel.aubut@toronto2015.org, Sylvie.bernier@toronto2015.org
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