I voted against the project and here is why.
We had a committee of good people led by Mark Chamberlain come forward today to volunteer their services to fundraise for the velodrome. This committee suggested that $5mil would be a reasonable target.
Even with the $5mil donations, $2mil from Mohawk College and the $5mil from the Future Fund, the City of Hamilton would still be on the hook for $7- 12.3mil. Even though it was clearly stated that the Velodrome and Mohawk’s rec centre will be built and operated as 2 separated facilities, the Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) between Mohawk and the City of Hamilton stated Mohawk dictated when the velodrome would be used, (for example, daytime availability was 10am to 11:30am only) cycling events would be scheduled around Mohawk’s peak times and even though 100 parking spaces were dedicated to the Velodrome, Mohawk would get revenue from all the parking.
It also added that in the event the city would sell the facility, then the city would pay Mohawk (it was unclear at this point what that amount would be)
How can I tell the taxpayers of Ward 11 that we have to put in $5 million plus dollars to build a facility that we can only use when it suits Mohawk, give them all the parking revenues and when we sell it, give Mohawk some cash!
After reading the MOU, I felt that Mohawk College should take the lead on this project.
If you would like to talk with Brenda further about this issue, please give her a call or email.
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