Tonight I attended one of the public consultation sessions the City is hosting for the Lansdowne Partnership Plan. Having read some of the proposal so far, and hearing other people's opinions on some of the details, I can safely say I'm against Council approving the plan at this point. The site just doesn't have enough public transit to support a sports centre - and I learnt tonight that OSEG actually assumes that the CFL franchise will lose money for the first 5 years (at least).
So if the CFL isn't a profit maker from the get go - why choose this bid over what might come out of an open design competition? Part of the bid's apparent attractiveness was that it came with a CFL franchise. I was told tonight that OSEG has planned for the project to succeed even without the CFL (a good idea considering the CFL's history in Ottawa). In fact, the retail and commercial elements of the design are what the expect (hope?) will make money. In essense, this is a commercial/retail/residential development wrapped in a thin venere of "Sports" to make it sound better.
I'm not buying it. City Council needs to vote down this bid and return to the "suspended" open design competition. Surely someone, somewhere, can come up with a better idea for Lansdowne Park than a hotel, condos and a mall (oh - and maybe football too).
Read up on Bruce Firestone's statements on why Lansdowne wasn't good enough for an NHL team.
Send your thoughts on the proposal to the Mayor, City Council and/or the Media: www.letsgetitright.ca
No joke: "a new scoreboard" was really a bullet item on why the current proposal is a wonderful idea.
My impression of this diagram is that for large events at the stadium people would take buses or walk to/from Carleton where there is space for 1900 cars. I doubt concert goers are interested in that.
(L2R)Kent Kirkpatrick and John Smith (backs to camera) listen to a question from an audience member during the Q&A session on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2009 in Ottawa. Andy Hayden Hall was jammed with residents wanting to get answers. Lansdowne Live public consultations (Day 3). Ottawa CIty Hall, 110 Laurier St. (Photograph by: Mike Carroccetto, The Ottawa Citizen)
