Hamilton Ward One Councillor Brian McHattie is moving the following motion:

West Harbour Stadium Site

Whereas, there remains considerable uncertainty as to the possibility of the CPR yard lands as a location for the Pan-Am Soccer Stadium as evidenced in staff report CM09006(i), including outstanding financial, transportation, relocation of existing industry, and land remediation cost issues, and;

Whereas, the Hostco September 23, 2010 letter from Ian Troop to Chris Murray requires a definitive stadium site selection and City of Hamilton commitments on leasehold interests, remediation costs, risk assessment, and additional funding commitments to achieve a 25,000+ seat stadium, by September 29, 2010, and;

Whereas, there is a very real possibility that Hamilton stands to lose any Pan Am stadium investment altogether.

Therefore Be It Resolved:

(a) That the City of Hamilton commit to the West Harbour stadium site (including other site commitments as required in the Sept 23/010 Ian Troop letter), and request that the Hamilton Tiger-Cats provide a letter committing to the West Harbour, or;

(b) That should the Hamilton Tiger-Cats not wish to commit to the West Harbour stadium site location, that $20M from the Future Fund Pan Am Games allocation be re-directed to the renovation of Ivor Wynne Stadium, and that staff report back on options for re-allocating the remainder of the $45M Future Fund stadium allocation.

Listen to the meeting live:



I’m on my way to City Hall and will be plugging into the audio sound board to provide a live audio stream of the stadium debate proceedings.

Feel free to embed the LiveStream box onto your NON-COMMERCIAL website using the code below:

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I’m going to do my best to make it to City Council today and provide a live audio-only stream.

I cannot guarantee that I’ll be able to make it has I have a few matters to attend to first.

I’m making a trip to Pongetti music this afternoon to purchase XLR audio lines to run into the Council Chambers audio board. Hopefully, this will solve many of the audio issues I’ve encountered previously.

I was unable to secure video for this meeting, but am working with community partners to get permanent streaming in place for the next Council term after the election.

I’ll update my website if I’m able to run audio today. If I do, I will also provide the embed code for the audio stream to allow for non-commercial sites/blogs to share the feed with their readers.

- Joey …

Tonight’s The Big Tweet 2!

Last year’s The Big Tweet was Hamilton’s (hashtag: #HamOnt) first tweet and also Hamilton’s best.

This year will be even better with cupcakes (I love free sugar) and a live 80s cover band.

You don’t have to be a Twitter addict to attend, you don’t even have to be on Twitter – but it helps, how else are you going to find out about the Tweet-up?

You just have to be interested and willing to have a good time.

I’ll be at the Tweet-up tonight and want to hear from you – what are your priorities for a community-powered/community-based news site for Hamilton? …

I’m live at the Hamilton City Council meeting today. Live stream and coverage is available on RaiseTheHammer, a local community site in Hamilton.

http://www.raisethehammer.org/blog/1920/live_coverage_of_pan_am_stadium_meeting

Letter from Minister of State (Sport) Gary Lunn to Mayor Fred Eisenberger

Dear Mr. Mayor:

 

I am writing in response to your correspondence of August 12, 2010, forwarded to me by the Office of the Prime Minister, regarding federal government funding for venues to be built for the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games.

I appreciate being advised of Hamilton City Council’s decision to proceed with West Harbour as the site for its proposed stadium. As you are aware, now that Hamilton City Council has selected West Harbour as its preferred location, the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games Organizing Committee will decide if it wants to incorporate this venue into its overall capital plan.

In the fall, the Committee will present its proposed venue plan and business plan to its Board of Directors for approval. The Board will then present its venue plan and business plan to the Multi-Party Agreement signatories, including the Government of Canada and Province of Ontario, for approval.

Our Government has committed to contribute to the capital costs associated with building or upgrading facilities for the Toronto 2015 Games. As outlined in the Multi-Party Agreement, this support is conditional on the facilities being publicly owned, being used for the 2015 Games (i.e., they can be built on time and within the allotted budget) and having a post-Games high-performance sport legacy.

With respect to discussions on the use of the stadium, it is important to note that the federal government will not get involved in negotiations between City of Hamilton, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games Organizing Committee.

…

A few friends have been sharing their stories of where they were and how they reacted when they learned of the attacks on the World Trade Centre towers.

On September 11, 2001, I slept in. I had a late night before and awoke shortly after 10 a.m. to the sounds of dance music on the local dance radio station in Hamilton, Ontario.

After the song, the announcer said that the Red Cross had set up a toll-free number for those affected “by the tragic events in Washington and New York.”

At this moment, my landline phone rang. My grandmother was saying how much she loved me and asked me to promise to write her. I was confused and asked what was going on. She told me to turn on the television.

I did.

The visual sent a chill up my spine – moments later, I realized that NATO was under attack and Canada was at war. Only 10 weeks earlier, I swore an oath to protect my nation.

I immediately told my grandmother I would write, that I loved her, and that I needed to get moving.

Within minutes, I was in my military uniform. I unplugged everything in my apartment – who knew when or if I would be back again.

I spent the rush of the day at the local Armouries preparing for who knew what.

There’s not much else to the story, I was merely a Private prepared to do as I was ordered. …

A brief update, my personal blog shall remain on hiatus for one more week.

My time at The Hamilton Spectator is extended by one week to complete a mobile web project I started at the paper.

My final day at TheSpec is Friday, and I  officially end my time with the paper on Sunday.

I’ll be writing for The Globe and Mail’s higher education site once again this week. You can find my page there at: http://www.globecampus.ca/joeycoleman

I’d like to thank everyone who has contacted me or tweeted their support this summer.

- Joey …