September 21st, 2006
Re-imagining Lamport Stadium
Posted by Julia Lo
Unless you play field hockey, it’s likely that most of you have never been to Allan A. Lamport Stadium near King and Dufferin in Parkdale. The giant stadium, which can hold approximately 9,000 spectators, is old, deteriorating, and often empty.
On Wednesday night, Parkdale-High Park councillor Sylvia Watson (who is not running for re-election as councillor after running on the Libreral ticket in the recent provincial by-election) and Doug McDonald from the Department of Parks, Forestry & Recreation held a public consultation meeting for the redevelopment of Lamport Stadium. They outlined the City’s Request for Proposal (RFP) process that will let private developers bid on the right to recreate the sports and recreational complex — with minimal public input. This was not what residents and stakeholders had in mind.
Many residents pushed for a park and recreational facilities with free community access for local sports programs. “Parkdale’s the only downtown area that doesn’t have a large park,” one resident said. Others wanted to replace the worn-out artificial turf and have a first-class field hockey stadium. Despite their differences, everyone wanted to work together and find an innovative solution.
Everyone, it seemed, but the City. For the most part, Watson and McDonald stood as apologists for the City and in particular the City Planning Division, which was notably absent. “The City has no money for this type of thing,” was a common refrain. (Parks & Recreation has $750,000 for this project, but turf replacement alone will cost $1.2 million.) McDonald also insisted that many of the residents’ proposals were beyond his mandate.
Parkdale-High Park (Ward 14) candidate Gord Perks attended the meeting and echoed the general sentiment of residents and stakeholders. “We need to start at the beginning and look at the services this community needs,” he said.
Whether Watson will incorporate residents’ suggestions into the plan for Lamport Stadium remains to be seen. However, some fear it may already be too late. When the meeting was brought to a close, one resident muttered, “We’ve lost. They’re gonna do it.”
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Comments
“with minimal public input” Syvia Watson, screwing the residents of Parkdale right up to the end. sd
Comment by scott d
September 22, 2006 @ 1:01 pm
Typical Watson automatic refrain when it comes to the constituents’ perspective: “The City has no money for this type of thing.” She does not stop to even consider a suggestion. And, typical of Watson is “minimal public input”. One would hope she’d learned something from the message sent via the by-election. Parkdale does not like her values nor appreciate her ideas of development (parkland for sale). Thankfully she’s not running for re-election in the muncipal race. Soon she won’t be able to screw the residents of Parkdale any longer.
Comment by parkdale resident
September 22, 2006 @ 1:36 pm
Lets all remember that they are building a 20 000 seat soccer stadiun at exhibition place. Despite claims that there might be room for public use this will be limited. If given a good facelift - and a new field - lamport could host many pro soccer teams (Toronto Lynx, CSL teams) as well as amateur/youth teams. Lets not forget that other sports can be played there as well. Now, the city says it is not interested in doing this, which is unfortunate, but hoefully someone will purchase it and run it as a sports field. Remember - you can’t rent/get a permit from the city for free, so even if they charge to use the field this wouldn’t be new at all. At least it might be a good field to rent. Lets face it - this won’t become some city park. I think the best we can hope for is a well maintained sports centre. I would have loved to see it as a city run stadium open for use from dawn to midnight but that won’t happen. I just hope i don’t see Lamport Condos….
Comment by Al P
September 24, 2006 @ 12:53 pm
If the City outsourced the management (NOT to MLSE!) maybe it could be a concert venue - and right on a streetcar line too! If the Lynx don’t use Ex Stadium it would be nice to see them at Lamport - Centennial is in the middle of nowhere including transit-wise.
Comment by Mark Dowling
September 25, 2006 @ 1:37 pm