Quote:
Originally Posted by alecz_dad
It seems that at one time, even former Mayor and Court Jester, Larry O'Brien thought Bayview was the best location for a stadium.
Bruce Firestone offered some interesting insights into why the (insert name here) Centre was located in Kanata, many of which apply to why Lansdowne is a bad location for a redeveloped stadium:
* "the maximum number of people that OC [Transpo] can run up and down Bank Street would be about 2,500 pph (people per hour). For an arena with a 20,000 capacity, it would take four hours to exit everyone from the building using buses";
* "I can tell you that if we relied on buses, we would have had one sellout – opening night. After that, there would have been a fan revolt. In fact, people coming from Orleans by car could have taken more time to get to Lansdowne Park than to get to SBP, considering the traffic issues around the site."
* "I knew we needed a site we could own, that would have enough room for 7,000 cars and 500-plus buses ";
OSMUG promises they will lure thousands out of their cars, and either onto buses or arriving on foot or by bike. But as Firestone observed, fans in Orleans are not going to be very keen on leaving their cars at home. Instead, the surrounding neighbourhoods will become permanent overflow parking for the gross under-provision of onsite parking for games, the mall and the condos.
You ask where all these different amenities can be found next to a potential development site. Well, what I was describing was Bayview Yards.
The Transitway and LRT are on their southern boundary, the northern terminus of the O-Train is there, the Western Parkway is just to the north of the site(s), and there are two bridges to Quebec (I counted) -- the Chaudiere and Portage -- that are within 2km of the Yards, and the Champlain Bridge is a little more than a 3km straight shot along the Western Parkway.
As for cajoling the NCC, the City has seemed determined in its plans for the LRT and Lansdowne that they could get the NCC on board. Why were they so fraidy about getting them onside at Bayview/Lebreton? |
Are we really still debating the Bayview yards option? Does anyone else here want to move past 2007?
Why didn't the City go that route? Well, for one thing, the City had completed a community design plan for that area that did not include a stadium. For another, the local community was strongly opposed (or does citizen opposition only count if its in the Glebe?) For another, the highway connections from Bayview are arguably worse than those at Lansdowne. And for a fourth thing, the City ALREADY OWNED a stadium and arena at Lansdowne.
Might it have been better if we were starting from scratch? Maybe. But under the existing circumstances, Bayview is nothing more than a NIMBY anthem by those who wanted the stadium anywhere else.
As for the Kanata location of Scotiabank, Firestone's reasons are a combination of nonsense and outdated thinking. As one of the people who put SBP in Kanata, Firestone has every reason to justify the decision he made. In reality, the one and only reason that Scotiabank is in Kanata is the land play. Firestone and his gang didn't have the money to buy an NHL team. They were entirely dependent on the development of the surrounding lands. When that didn't pan out, we all saw the financial issues that resulted.
To pick one of his claims, the idea that it takes 4 hours to clear 20,000 people from Lansdowne fits in the nonsense category. The facts completely contradict his assertion. In the past, Lansdowne was regularly cleared of 25,000 people in less time that it takes the parking lots at SBP to clear of cars. And once they are cleared, they don't have an average of 25 km to drive on the highway.
Cities essentially stopped building suburban arenas stadiums in the 1990s. SBP was at the tail end of a misguided trend.
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