Last day to influence Council

CTV Ottawa news tonight reported that 35 people have registered to speak at the meeting, but obviously they have no indication of which side those people will be supporting. You can also register at the door.

I think it will be a long meeting. That's 3 hours of public comment, plus the time for the Melnyk and Hunt presentations. I was hoping to get back to work in the afternoon, but it looks like I will be taking the whole day off.

 

Greenberg threatening to take his toys home if he doesn't get his own way on Tuesday:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Sports...building+exercise/1507541/story.html#Comments

I guess he's upset because he can't appeal this one to the OMB

 

Ultimatum = desperation.

 

Maybe ultimatum = the upper hand now

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Sports/Melnyk+punts+plan+dual+sport+stadium/1508773/story.html

I really thought we were going to win this. The plan to put both soccer and the CFL in Kanata was such a hard one to argue against, but if Melnyk really has rejected it, then I think we are in trouble. Melnyk will be perceived as being inflexible, even when there was a plan that seemed to give him everything he was looking for.

Councilors know that they have to come up with a plan for Lansdowne, and even if Lansdowne Live is far from the best, they know that voting for it would stop them having to come up with anything better.

 

Ottawa City Council appears to have no understanding of the democratic process:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Chiarelli+pushes+make+Lansdowne+plan+work/1511503/story.html

Chiarelli had had city staff working the weekend drafting a motion calling for exclusive talks with the LL group. This seems a little premature, given that public consultations are on Monday and a council vote is not until Wednesday. He has obviously decided that he knows what the vote will be.

 

Its pretty standard for some councillors to have an opinion before a public meeting or to draft a motion in advance as it does require some leal language. There is a lot of lobbying going on in the background by both groups and some are getting convinced. There is another motion being drafted by Doucet according to the Sun yesterday that would stop everything.

At least some are willing to stand up and support a stadium, which was from the case two weeks ago. It probably wont be the one people would like on this board, but its important that our city have an outdoor stadium suitable for a capital of a G8 country.

 

Report: Ottawa to approve Hunt deal/

 

I think this is premature. While I would agree that Lansdowne Live has the advantage at the moment, there was a huge majority of speakers today that opposed it. I didn't keep a count, but I would say probably 80% opposed some or all of Lansdowne Live. While many of these were Glebe residents and business owner rather than soccer fans, they still can't be ignored by council.

There is still hope for the Kanata stadium.

 

I think at this point the only hope for the Kanata stadium is if the city donates the land and Melnyk finances it himself. I know he's said in the past that his project isn't viable without public money, but he's also made statements like this:

"[...] We bid for the junior hockey world championships three times before we got it at the fourth attempt," he said. "This is going to happen. We will go on until we get a franchise. It will happen."

Well, if council offers him the land, it's up to him to make it happen if he wants to. Except he'd be going it alone and likely competing against a CFL franchise that's playing in a subsidized stadium.

 

Right now I expect Lansdowne Live to win this thing and get a positive nod from the City. So this would mean the CFL would return, but speaking to people I know that are involved in this project, a USL-1 teams is definately something they will push hard for to complement the CFL football. So regardless, there will be professional soccer in Ottawa in the next 2-3 years....

 

It would still need someone to want to finance a USL team, because the Hunt Group have said they have no interest in doing that, and I don't see Melnyk wanting to get involved. No-one else has expressed interest in running a team as a tenant at Lansdowne, as far as I have heard.

There is still a shred of hope left:

"Kanata North Coun. Marianne Wilkinson tabled a motion to hand 30 acres of city-owned land worth $10 million near Scotiabank Place over to Senators Sports & Entertainment and contribute an additional $10 million in cash, provided they can secure an MLS team within a certain time frame. That falls well short of what SS&E wanted. Chief operating officer Cyril Leeder said "it's a good step forward."

This isn't that far short of what they wanted, it is less than $7M away, and there is still the possibility that they might get the franchise for $35M like Portland and Vancouver, which would be $5M less than Melnyk had budgeted. Then the only stumbling block would be having to defeat the other council motion, so that the city could give it's undivided support to the Kanata Stadium as far as federal and provincial support is required.

 

I am surprised, having heard them (Hunt group) saying they certainly were interested in getting a USL-1 franchise for Lansdowne to complement the CFL football. From what I had read/heard, they simply had to come with a working agreement with the Ottawa Fury (who own USL rights to Ottawa).

 

That being said, it would have been a different story had Melnyk "garanteed" he would work with the CFL to complement his MLS team.

 

Interesting questions from Clive Doucet:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/D...tributions+from+developers/1519066/story.html

I know he is clutching at straws, but I do understand his comment that "he is frustrated and bewildered by city council’s movement towards a deal with four Ottawa businessmen to develop Lansdowne".