The “unofficial” Ottawa Lynx blog

Once the developers’ plan is fully in place, the city would get about $15 million a year in property taxes instead of losing $1.5 million on operating the park, Hunt says. This would be a near-complete privatization of Lansdowne. The only piece of property that would remain in public ownership is the land beneath the football stadium, and it would be on a long-term lease.

The developers initially didn’t want to own all the property, Hunt says, but Mayor Larry O’Brien told them it was all or nothing. The group has been dealing with the mayor behind the scenes to get its project moving.

                                                                                                       (Ottawa Citizen, September 28, 2007)

Mr. Doucet said he’s suspicious of the motives behind the latest pitch. He thinks the real point of their plan is not to bring football back, but to develop the area for private use.

“If they were really about bringing football back to Ottawa, they would be going after a football team only, but they aren’t,” he said. “They are going after a football team, yes; but the real goal is to get this public land and turn it into a big private profit.

“The city is in the quality-of-life business, not the business of creating profit opportunities for developers, so why should we be sacrificing public land for private interest? The answer is we shouldn’t, and the public is not going to stand for this.”  (emphasis added)

                                                                                                     (Ottawa Citizen, September 28, 2007)

Sorry about the delayed blogging today.  The two quotes above give a pretty clear illustration of what happens when Council finds out about deals the Mayor’s office has negotiated privately.  Given his position on Landsdowne Park, I guess we can presume Mr. Doucet will be in our corner on the Can Am League issue - or at least, not in the corner of those who would prefer to develop Coventry Road for “private use”.  It’s also interesting to note that according to Jeff Hunt, the proponents of this plan weren’t interested in owning all the property - “but Mayor Larry O’Brien told them it was all or nothing.”

But getting back to the Lynx/Can Am situation, my concern is that whomever is calling the shots on this file at City Hall has an ulterior motive, or has dug in their heels on the legal issue.  If it’s an ulterior motive, then what we’re witnessing now is the City hoping to run out the clock - with the Lynx “breaching the contract” and/or the Can Am League forced to move on.  If they’ve dug in their heels on the lawsuit, I think they’re holding a losing hand - hopefully we can find a way for everyone to “save face” and fold before the baseball option is just no longer an option.  It’s also worthwhile to note that the City is not currently suing the Lynx; there’s no counter-claim to the Lynx’s suit over the parking issue.  What we now know has been communicated to the Lynx is that they are unwilling to give up on the $2.7M they say the team owes.

We hope to be able to convince the City to deal with the only solid proposal it currently has for the Stadium - one which essentially maintains the status quo.  I have yet to hear any rumblings that anyone down at City Hall was unhappy with the operating agreement as it currently stands - in fact, if they’re to be believed, the City wants expects the Lynx to live up to it.  The Can Am League, in essence, is willing to assume those obligations, effectively becoming the Lynx for the remainder of the agreement and beyond.  To paraphrase my son, why don’t we let them?

To let this happen, all the City has to do is walk away from the money they say is owed by the Lynx to a city which no longer exists.