Wednesday, August 4, 2010

A preamble to how I see 'The Pan Am Stadium Debacle'

This is a comment I submitted to an article on 'The Hamiltonian':

I'm actually loving this interlude. Not because I'm particularly sadistic and enjoy so great a mess unfolding, with no clean resolution in sight. Because I think it speaks volumes about the world in which we live, and does so on so many levels.

It speaks about the political process in Hamilton.

It speaks about the changing world, 'downtown revitalization' vs 'urban sprawl'.

It speaks about how business concerns are not necessarily aligned with community concerns; what the Ti-Cats 'need' vs what Hamilton 'needs'.

It speaks about conflation, about how people can rationalize the benefits, the good aspects of an idea by piggybacking them onto others; West Harbour's supporters bringing the 'if we don't remediate this land with this project, who knows when it'll get done?!?' argument into play, for example.

It speaks about threats; the Ti-Cats using the whole 'legacy' requirement for a stadium to effectively leverage the process. ("If we don't get what we need, then we won't be a tenant, which means that you won't have what's been decreed as a proviso for the stadium...")

It speaks about both disinformation and the dearth of information being disseminated: the ins and outs of the Future Fund (the notion of a 'double-payment' on the part of those who are paying the loans), about just how reliant the Ti-Cats are on parking revenue, not just for their own events, but for all events held at the stadium, and in general, what the average Hamiltonian actually wants.

It speaks about how desperation is not the ideal state in which to be making pivotal decisions.

More than anything else, it speaks about the need to have consistent and sincere engagement between our elected officials and their constituents.

Personally, I can't imagine how this is going to come to an end where many people are satisfied. (I'll be addressing this on my own blog presently.) Damage has been done to the Ti-Cats' reputation within the community. Damage has been done to City Council's (and Mayor Fred's) reputations within the community. And damage has been done to the community's perception of Hamilton's ability to get things done...if that wasn't already in a state of triage.

Because of my own stance on making things better, sorting things out in all situations, I'm not wishing this would go away, praying for it all to just stop. I believe that this situation is a real turning point for Hamilton, for all those involved, and frankly, I'm glad it's been unfolding in the ways it has. The real question will be 'What have we learned from it?' Because as we all know, the sign of a mature entity is to actually learn, and therefore benefit from our travails, from those things that make Life so much of a challenge to get through.

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I'm always interested in feedback, differing opinions, even contrarian blasts...as long as they're delivered with decorum...with panache and flair always helping.