Burlington councillor upset with sudden turn of events

Personally. I believe some urgent unforseen factors must have come up at the last minute thus making the fall-back position to Ivor Wynne a necessity if Hamilton had any hope of saving the team and the Government cash. I don’t for a minute believe the Ticats “used” Burlington at all and were very sincere in moving there. 8)

,but here’s the article anyways

Burlington councillor feels ‘used’ by Cats

Andrew Dreschel
Fri Jan 14 2011

Burlington councillor feels ‘used’ by Cats

A little used and little let down.

That’s how Burlington Councillor Rick Craven feels now that the Tiger-Cats have jilted the Aldershot stadium in favour of patching things up at Ivor Wynne.

After the Ivor Wynne proposal went public on Tuesday, Ticat president Scott Mitchell disclosed the club had been considering the rebuild even during its feverish trans-holiday courtship of Burlington.

That’s news to Craven, who represents the Aldershot area.

Craven says the football club, which first contacted him with the Aldershot proposition on Christmas Eve, gave no hint they were pursuing a two-track policy.

“They made it clear to us that their preference was Aldershot, regardless of any ongoing scenarios in Hamilton.?

Craven says the Ticats seemed serious and sincere during the two private meetings he and Mayor Rick Goldring had with them.

According to Craven, the Tiger-Cats stated they had good contacts with the province and that the province was working with them.

“I guess in looking back, I do find it difficult to resist the feeling that we were used, but it wasn’t the feeling at the time,? Craven says.

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[url=http://www.thespec.com/opinion/article/473742--burlington-councillor-feels-used-by-cats]http://www.thespec.com/opinion/article/ ... ed-by-cats[/url]

Given the reports that indicated that Burlington could not afford another project like the stadium and especially that hatchet job on Bob Young by Sam Merulla and the Burlington councillor on CHCH....is there any wonder Bob Young was ready to look at IWS again?
It sure did not look to me like was given any welcome mat by Burlington's politicians.

Heard the first part of the interview with Craven on 'ML this morning. This is the FIRST time in the whole debacle that I have begun to doubt the good faith of the 'Cats. Even a courtesy call before the public announcement would have made this okay but to not do so is to almost flip the bird at the Burlington council.

Yes, I know that the 'Cats experience with city councils has not been very positive lately but this would have been a simple matter of honouring the work of the people in Burlington who WERE trying to make things happen.

Not good..... Not good.....

Now I'm beginning to re-think my previous understanding of past events. I feel the pull of the dark side. Captain.... is that the Captain calling me? The force is strong in in that one.

Agree 62, Burlington didn't give him the welcome mat at all. Oh they were ready to contribute to a 5000 seater in Burlington that was just for amateur use afterwards but if it's a stadium to be used by pros, even if amateur usage, then no contribution at all, one councillor there mentioned I believe. No sympathy for Burlington at all. :thdn:

The above picture is how I visualize Capt Kirk and his crew..."WEST HARBOUR!!!!!"

Strange. I picture them more like this:

http://records.viu.ca/~soules/medi402/walker/borg1.GIF

That looks more like the east end zone by the 4th quarter.

Nice put down Captain but I've met some very nice people there in the end zone at that time.

Go shove it buddy you know where. But we are still friends, aren't we? :wink: Man to man sort of thing... Tell each other to f... o and then have a beer aftewards. :wink:

Ok, it was in jest your post, I realize, of course. A sense of humour here, unlike RTH where humour is the forbidden, fruit?

Please let it be that we rediscover that on this site. For the children…

Mark, I agree with you, not making that courtesy call was major “faux pas”

Well, we don't know the whole story on this one perhaps. Sometimes I don't make calls or return calls for a reason.

Young and Mitchell tried a powerplay and pull the stadium to Aldershot and must have gotten shot down or understood it was going to fail, so far not great but ok. Total lack of class to the mayor of Burlington for not being graceful in retreating IMO.

On the contrary. The mayor does not lack class in regards to the “Burlington gambit”

From the same article:

[i]Burlington’s mayor has no regrets other than the “minor exception? of being blindsided by the Ivor Wynne announcement. Other than that lack of a heads up, Goldring says they had good relations with the Cats.

“I hold the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in high esteem; they dealt with us upfront and I firmly believe at the time they contacted us, they were out of options with the City of Hamilton,? says Goldring.[/i]

I'm sure this was something quite a bit bigger in some senses than he's dealt with before. And let's face it, it is an unusual situation that is happening, PanAm Games and that, HOSTCO, province, TigerCats etc. timelines, it has made most of us spin and we've been following it. He was in the thick of this all of a sudden and might not have really known what was going on and the larger picture. Being "blindsided" if you will is probably more the norm that could easily happen with all the players involved, scenarios and timelines. Probably he'll chalk this up as a learning experience no doubt for future type projects.

I think the mayor there has responded in a very proper way, based on the remarks quoted. I'm sure he knew that Burlington was a second choice, albeit an increasingly likely one at the time discussions were held with them. I do wish the Ticats had let him know before doing the announcement about IWS. It would have been the courteous thing to do.

8) I agree with you wholeheartedly .

Well, we don't know if there was some uncourtesy delivered to the TigerCats from Burlington that prompted a somewhat similar behaviour. That's the way it goes, if someone is ignorant with me, I usually return the favour. We don't know so let's not assume.

To the mayor… by Young and Mitchell for not having enough class to call.