City politicians are drawing a line on the ice ahead of an appearance by the owner of the Hamilton Bulldogs at an Oct. 2 meeting of Hamilton’s general issues committee.
Councillors say Michael Andlauer has to be prepared to make public what he is asking from taxpayers in relation to his proposal to build an arena for his junior hockey team at Lime Ridge Mall, in partnership with Cadillac Fairview.
Flamborough’s Judi Partridge says the public’s current opinion is based on misinformation.
“It’s already out in the media that they’re going to pay for everything and the city doesn’t have to do anything and so we’re a bunch of idiots – and that’s not true,” Partridge says.
Ward 4 Coun. Sam Merulla agrees that “the moment they’re asking us for tens of millions of dollars, that is when the line is crossed and it needs to be in a public forum.”
Ward 2 Coun. Jason Farr is also among those feeling unfairly criticized on the issue, insisting that “easily 90 per cent of this story, nobody has any clue what the numbers are, what the deal is.”
Andlauer has proposed a 6,000-seat arena for his Ontario Hockey League (OHL) team.
He had initially been invited to Wednesday’s meeting, but was out of the country.
In a statement to city staff Sept. 13, Andlauer suggested he would be “available for the GIC on October 2nd.”
He stated that he is “open to addressing council publicly with what I can discuss and answer any questions I can from Council to help move consideration of this proposal forward.”
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