Plans for a concert at Ivor Wynne Stadium by country superstars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill have been shelved in response to a city staff report predicting it would cost $400,000 to bring the venue up to safety code for the event.
Last Wednesday, the community services department recommended to a city council committee that the Aug. 23 concert be allowed to go ahead if upgrades were made. However, that was reversed Friday when department staff decided the cost would be too high.
"I'm awaiting a full report on where the $400,000 comes from, what it is for, and what options there might be," Duncan Gillespie, CEO of HECFI, the city-owned corporation that wanted to rent Ivor Wynne for the show, said yesterday. "They said apparently the stadium is safe for almost 30,000 people to watch a football game, but not 25,000 people to watch a concert, if 3,800 of them are (seated) on the field."
Gillespie said city staff were chiefly concerned about added fire safety problems created by the 3,800 people sitting on the stadium field. He also said he wasn't sure if city staff had taken into account "the economic impact on the city of 25,000 people coming to see a concert and whether that could have offset some of the costs."
The country double-bill would have been the first major concert to be held at Ivor Wynne in almost 30 years. The city has been reluctant to allow concerts there since some 55,000 rock fans filled the stadium in 1975 to see Pink Floyd. City officials were flooded by complaints about noise and rowdiness.
Hamilton officials insist on living in the past, Hill/McGraw fans are not the same as Pink Floyd fans. They wouldn't be there to rip up and burn the field, gimme a break. We have come along way, proper precautions to protect the turf and adequate police enforcement would have turned the old dump on Lottridge into a palace for one night and the money spent would have brought in further investment. Instead Hamilton officials once again show they have no love.
Later,
Kenaz
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Pte. Terry John Street, 83 person to die with pride in Afghanistan
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Monday, March 31, 2008Irish eyes shine again for Eugene Kelly "You don't hit somebody when they're down."-Eugene Kelly He was kicked, stomped and pepper sprayed by three Hamilton pieces of trash who thought they could get away with it. Eugene Kelly got up, heeled himself and fought back in court and this week he got the vindication he deserved. Kelly, 47 was outside the courthouse where two Hamilton youths were convicted of participating in a mob attack on him on Nov. 12, 2006. Ontario Court Justice Bernd Zabel found both males, who were 17 at the time, guilty of aggravated assault. He convicted one of them of assault with a weapon and administering a noxious substance (pepper spray). The pair, who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, will be sentenced May 2. A third accused, Bronson Vinerskis, who was 18 years old, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in adult court and will be sentenced on April 9. Kelly, a married father of two grown daughters, has no memory of being stomped and repeatedly kicked in the head. He learned only weeks later, after awakening from heavy sedation and semi-consciousness, that doctors in the emergency room observed a distinct boot impression on the side of his bleeding face. Witnesses said Kelly was pepper-sprayed by one youth and minutes later knocked to the pavement outside the Pizza Pizza at Fiesta Mall in Stoney Creek. He was unconscious as soon as his head hit the ground. A group of teenage boys surrounded his defenceless body and administered a flurry of kicks to his upper body and head. The lead singer in a Celtic rock band called Crooked Jack, Kelly was returning home from playing a gig at the Corktown Pub. He stopped into the pizza shop sometime after 2 a.m. for something to eat. He admonished a teenager at the counter for failing to say thank you to the server. A friend of the youth took offence and challenged the older man to meet them outside. Kelly suffered closed-head injuries and permanent memory loss, along with chronic impairment of his equilibrium. He has recently returned to work at Dofasco, but in a limited capacity. The steelworker has difficulty maintaining his balance and now walks with a cane. "It's been just devastating," Kelly said, referring to the struggle he and his family faced to return to their normal lives. What hurts most is not having the dexterity to play guitar or the strength to stand for long and perform onstage. "It's not there yet. I tried a couple of times, but it's just not there yet." I hope the justice system finally says enough is enough and hands out adult sentences to a bunch of coward "youth offenders" who committed adult crimes. Later, Kenaz Sunday, March 30, 2008Hamilton Council's latest proposal makes me 'gag'
The good: The draft bylaw to establish an city council integrity commissioner will go out for public consultation. It’s expected to be finalized in June. Councillors today allocated $50,000 in the 2008 budget to cover the potential costs of the commissioner for the last six months of the year.
The very bad: Controversial amendments were added to the bylaw last week at the Accountability and Transparency sub-committee, including charging a $100 fee to make a complaint and automatically cancelling investigation if the complainant speaks to the media. The tragic comedy that is city hall continues it's sickening run at King and James. This weeks 'farce' includes a proposal that would render a complaint to the city's integrity commissioner null and void if the person complaining about a councillor goes public before the investigation is complete. In other words, if you talk to the media, an investigation would be automatically be scrapped, regardless of how serious the allegation is. What draconian piece of shite is this? When did democracy cease in Hamilton? That amendment to the draft bylaw was approved last week by the integrity and transparency subcommittee, which is made up of councillors and citizens. Council has transformed a piece of legislation intended to ensure that councillors live up to their ethical obligations into both a blatant attempt to gag free speech and a ruse to shield themselves from being accountable. And, as citizen committee member Joanna Chapman, who voted against the proposal, rightly notes, "Anything that stands in the way of having a complaint properly investigated ... is a huge mistake." The council members hiding behind the curtains pulling the strings are no mystery. Their the same ones, time and time again, who wish to waste time and money in order to save their old tired butts. There's nothing nefarious behind the proposal. It's simply a misguided attempt to discourage "frivolous and vexatious" complaints. Councillor Terry Whitehead, a member of the committee, argues imposing confidentiality on members of the public will help protect councillors from "bad-faith complaints" intended to politically embarrass them. "The majority of the committee felt if someone was genuine in their complaint and had no agenda and they respected the independent process of the integrity commissioner then they would allow the commissioner to do the work before going public," Whitehead explains. Councillor Brian McHattie, another committee member who supports the muzzle, notes the restriction is an extension of the same confidentiality rule that would apply to the integrity officer, if and when one is hired. "I'm hearing very clearly from my fellow councillors unless they have those kind of protections in place then they won't support the commissioner bylaw," McHattie says. Nice try, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Like Shakespeare's two courtiers in Hamlet the two councillors bumbled this one. The proposed restriction is not only out of step with an open and free society, it flies in the face of the rules governing investigations by the provincial integrity and environmental watchdogs. Councillor Brad Clark points out that rather than protecting councillors from trivial and trumped up allegations, the gag would make them more vulnerable. For example, if a complainant goes public with an allegation and the investigation is dropped as a result, a councillor will have no way of clearing his or her name. The shadow of suspicion would linger forever. Councillors should, within reason, be sheltered from unscrupulous special interest groups and political rivals looking to get at them, but they already have legal and moral ways of doing that. Imposing a muzzle on the public at the expense of what may be a legitimate allegation and serious investigation is way out of bounds for members a democratic political arena to conduct themselves. Monday, March 24, 2008Clark Parker"He announced to the dressing room that his mom and dad had been killed in a big car accident...But he didn't want to let his team down with what had happened. He wanted to play, he wanted to be with his team." An incredible quote from a minor hockey league coach about an incredible six-year-old. The championship hockey game against the Maple Leafs was on the line for the Rosedale novice Canadiens. But just before 2 p.m. on Super Saturday, six-year-old Clark Parker entered what would normally have been a room filled with the raucous shouts of excited little boys. Instead, you could have heard a pin drop as the courageous lion heart made his impassioned statement. Former Dunnville deputy mayor Norm Parker, 41, and his wife Nadine Parker, 36, a respected certified management accountant, died Thursday when their minivan slammed headfirst into an elevated highway support in east Hamilton. Alcohol, weather and road conditions were not factors in the collision. full story Every human being on this earth is born with a tragedy, and it isn't original sin. He's born with the tragedy that he has to grow up. That he has to leave the nest, the security, and go out to do battle. He has to lose everything that is lovely and fight for a new loveliness of his own making, and it's a tragedy. A lot of people don't have the courage to do it.-American Actress, Helen Hayes in 1966 Heartfelt wishes, Kendall Oliphant Friday, March 21, 2008Spring Tarot and Rune reading
Back in January I posted my Winter reading and I have to say parts of it where pretty accurate once again. Unfortunately this guy popped up,  The card at the bottom of the cross represents the foundation on which the situation is based. The Devil: Ravage. Bondage. Malevolence. Subservience. Downfall. Lack of success. Weird experience. Bad influence or advice. Black magic. Unexpected failure. Seeming inability to realize one's goals. Dependence that leads to unhappiness. Controversy. Violence. Shock. Fatality. Temptation to evil. Regression. Self-destruction. Disaster. Astral influence. The tearing apart of one's self-expression to such an extent that the person becomes ineffectual. An Ill-tempered person. Lack of humor except at another's expense. Lack of principles. | Yes, Hotz Environmental had their share of "little devils" running around and that meant another new beginning for me with another company. Spring seems to be looking brighter, I look forward to what the new equinox brings. I've had to say goodbye to my cat Emilly who I have had for all of her fifteen years, but I look forward to many more years of joy with my new kitten Eden.
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