Finding the right facilitator

The Spec's John Kernaghan reports:

'A facilitator to referee the Pan Am stadium dispute will be unveiled tomorrow for approval by a special meeting of city councillors.

The two sides agreed on the individual yesterday following a new deadline to find a solution to the stadium standoff.

That July 1 date came out of a Pan Am panel at the Hamilton Economic Summit.

Both Mayor Fred Eisenberger and Tiger-Cats owner Bob Young said the session provided a sense of urgency.

Part of the discussion on a facilitator centred on whether it should be someone from inside or outside the community.'

What do you think? Should the parties pick a local or outside facilitator?

Comments

[Gene Simmons]

Sh*t,I'D bend over if there was money involved.

[Peter Michael]

I'd say shame on the City not on Bob Young. Or will the City bend over for just about anyone if there is money involved?

[kathy Hagan]

If we have to have a facilitator the person should be local with no ties at all to the Tiger Cats. I am afraid that now with all this waffling Toronto will be awarded the staduim . Mr Young is no Hamilton booster he waited as long as he possibly could to voice his objection to the Waterfront location. Shame on him.

[Steve Sheen]

I think the faclitator should be local after all who knows how the city flows best.

[Tom Robertson]

The Cats have gone to the media saying they can't even meet the July 1st date. They have become very disruptive and are damaging the city's image and possibly the building of any stadium. How much investment will Metrolinx make in the city if we continue the process of expanding out to the suburbs rather than developing our urban areas.

[Mike Russell]

It should be a local person with no ties to the CFL or it's owners.

If the city of Hamilton is going to get screwed by this process, which we surely will, I'd rather it be someone local that can be blamed.

Hopefully, a majority of councillors will reject this whole process and decide to proceed with the West Harbour site. The TiCats can either get on board or build their own stadium.

From the comments I heard from Scott Mitchell and Bob Young yesterday, it sounds like they don't know what they are doing or what they want. They have had 2 years to let the city know what they want and all we ever heard was, that they would accept whatever the city decided. The time for these sorts of discussions has passed.