Friday’s Headlines

5 comments

1. – Mayor & Brother Want NFL In Toronto In A New Stadium [CityTV]

   Wow, so many things wrong with this. I have a fair bit of experience in stadium development, and they can under certain circumstances be an asset to their cities, but to plunk down an NFL stadium in Downsview would be about the stupidest, dumbest thing I could think of. Never mind all the handwringing over the Agos and CFL, or the fact that Toronto cannot actually support an NFL team, this would be a suburban development nightmare straight out of Atlanta. But of course the Fords are blind to that — what could be better than a short drive in your SUV from Etobicoke to Downsview for the game? No pesky streetcars or pedestrians to deal with. And all that space for tailgating in the 30,000 space parking lot!

   While the Mayor is attending the Bears-Packers game this weekend I’m sure he will notice the downtown location of Soldiers Field, the brilliant nearby Millenium Parkm, the urban landscaping and streetscaping of Lakshore Drive, the transit connections… wait, who am I kidding. He won’t notice any of that. Who elected this simpleton?

2. It amazes me that we are at 7 months since G20 and we have heard nothing from the Commanding Officers of the Police Departments that were involved. How many embarrassing and abusive events to we have to see before we hear an apology from them or see a resignation letter from them. Its obviously a top down mentality…I didn’t see any of the other supporting Officers suggest for the York cop to stand down..but rather they backed him up as he barked some of the most un-Canadian things I think I have ever heard. That cop should be stripped of uniform and pension…He is an embarrassment to the City, the Province, the Country and the people he pledged to protect. I hope this doesn’t go away, we should never forget it, until those accountable for the these actions and those who allowed them to occur are removed from their positions and reprimanded.

3. Plonking a stadium at Downsview would be one way to try justifying a Yonge-Downsview extension of the Sheppard line, I suppose… Suburban stadia for football is all very well but it was pointed out during the Bills visits that Ontario liquor laws don’t permit US style tailgating, so either they better start kissing up to the province to see that changed.

   However, I don’t believe for one second that the city, province and feds would be left alone by the NFL’s insatiable greed for public dollars as exhibited in the US, especially if the Canadian $/US $ rate fell back towards 0.65 which put the squeeze on all the Canadian franchises of “major” league sports.

4. I’d far rather we make do with our own Canadian product, which I think is a superior brand: CFL.
   Setting aside the obvious NFL franchise greed for public dollars and the city’s constantly crying poor, I doubt there are enough fans of the NFL who would be willing to pay what would most definitely be exorbitant prices to see an NFL game here.

5. Anybody notice how three different articles on the same transit poll spin it in three different ways? National Post calls it split and The Star & BlogTO call it “split.”