I am speechless.
Hamilton is the only city that would take a $100-million gift and piss in the face of the persons giving it to them.
No stadium is getting built here for the 2015 Pan Am Games. That's not official, but with the deadline about five weeks away, there simply isn't time to find an alternative.
Confederation Park is out. The East Mountain land has been sold. Longwood and Aberdeen is too expensive. And don't get me started on the west harbour.
This was a gimme, a layup that anyone could have hit. But I forgot that in Hamilton, there is no such thing as a gimme.
New city council, same idiotic results. The short-sightedness of it all could very well push the Tiger-Cats out of Hamilton. My hope is, if they do go somewhere else, that they at least stay close. Burlington or London would be fine.
Dave Naylor said on TSN that it is possible they could be headed to Moncton, Quebec City or Ottawa. It is entirely possible that Hamilton City Council has just killed an entity that has operated in Hamilton for over 140 years.
This is a sad turn of affairs. Who knows what the future holds, but at this point it looks like the future does not have a Hamilton Tiger-Cats in it.
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The Ticats Chat Forum is suggesting that we contact our City Councillors over this sad vote. Contacting my City Councillor would be a complete waste of time for me, since my Councillor happens to be one that I would not be able to talk to without using extremely vulgar profanity... Chad Collins. I am completely ashamed to have Collins as my Councillor. I will never contact him for any reason. If I have a City issue, I will simply find someone else to help me or give me advice. I did not vote for Collins, but unfortunately, a bunch of ill-informed people in my Ward did. I also don't like how the comments that are appearing in the Spectator blogs are saying that this whole thing will be viewed as Bob Bratina's first major failure. I can't agree with that. I'm convinced that Bratina did all that he could do within his power to make this happen. He called the emergency meeting and put forth the motion for an evaluation of Confederation Park. Other than that, Bratina is only one vote. He was basically cleaning up Fred Eisenberger's mess. There are other comments on the Spec blogs that suggest that this vote will give City Council some leverage in being able to negotiate (or more aptly "strongarm") the Ticats into accepting terms for the West Harbour. That is absolutely insane! Both HostCo and the Ticats have said that the West Harbour is a dead idea, and I agree with that. I also agree with Scott Mitchell that it would be a crazy idea to spend about $90 million to renovate Ivor Wynne Stadium. Where does this all leave us now? I don't really know, but I certainly hope that it doesn't ultimately lead to the Ticats leaving Hamilton. However, I wouldn't blame Bob Young if he should decide to do that. The blame falls squarely on Chad Collins and all of his supporters. As long as I live, I will never forgive Chad Collins for what he has done (in removing Confederation Park from the original site list).
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