5 things Hamilton wanted ready for the Pan Am Games

If you believe 2015 Pan Am Games organizers, eyes from around the world will be on Hamilton as the city hosts the soccer games July 10 to 27.

The city has done road work and beautification around Tim Horton's Field stadium. There are plans to put art installations in vacant storefronts along Barton Street. There have been public meetings, and transportation plans, and celebrations organized. For the last year, conversations around the city council table about any given topic have included the impact on the Pan Am Games.

Here are five things that some people wanted to see in Hamilton for the Pan Am Games that won't happen after all.

1. A gateway sign

Hamilton has no major gateway sign along Highway 403, much to Laura Babcock's chagrin. Babcock, a local activist who runs a public relations firm, started a social media campaign called #Time4Sign. Hamilton needs a stylized gateway sign to brand itself and welcome people to the city, she said. Especially during Pan Am.

It's not pretty, but it's safe. It's sealed.- Coun. Jason Farr on 18-28 King St. E.

But councillors balked at the cost, which was $230,000 for a sign near the intersection of Highways 403 and 6. And while those in favour argued that the city needed a sign for the Pan Am Games, it's not going to happen.

Council deferred the matter at least until the 2015 budget, but the budget passed in April, and it wasn't in there. The city is spending $36,000 on preliminary plans to nail down the costs of a gateway sign, but there won't be one for Pan Am.

2. The Gore buildings

It was a dramatic moment at a council meeting on Dec 11, 2013. Local developer Wilson Blanchard was on the cusp of demolishing three buildings in the Gore — 18 to 28 King St. E. — to build a mixed-use development. 

But Coun. Jason Farr, who represents Ward 2, wanted the developer to at least keep the facades. He introduced a last-minute motion: declare the buildings heritage. Then the demolition permits would be invalid.

It worked. One reason councillors agreed was because they didn't want a big vacant plot in the Gore for the Pan Am Games.

"We cannot afford to have the famous Bobby Clark smile represent our main street," said Coun. Chad Collins.

The buildings are still standing, and will be when the Pan Am Games happen. But they don't look like their old selves either. They're currently boarded up, sparking fears the buildings are falling victim to demolition by neglect.

Farr says they're not. The city is working with the owner on "short and long-term plans for the buildings," he said.

Until those plans happen, "it's not pretty, but it's safe. It's sealed."

"For all we know, if some family from Chile comes to Hamilton and is staying downtown and they're looking at that building, they don't know how long that's sat there, or what's in the future," he said.

3. The stadium

Tim Horton's Field will be the venue for the soccer games, but the stadium itself is delayed.

But it'll be done for the Pan Am Games. We hope.

Infrastructure Ontario (IO) has hired Ontario Sports Solutions (ONSS), a construction consortium, to build the 22,500-seat stadium. The original deadline was June 2014.

That deadline has been extended seven times — so much that the city has lost faith. Some smaller elements, such as furniture delivery, won't happen until late June. But the goal, builders say, is for the facility to be handed over to the city in late May.

Not everyone is sure. "I don't believe anything they say anymore," said Coun. Lloyd Ferguson, a construction industry veteran and Pan Am subcommittee chair, at a recent meeting.

And in a letter to IO and Premier Kathleen Wynne, Mayor Fred Eisenberger wrote that "the city's ability to host the Pan Am soccer matches at the new stadium is also in jeopardy."

IO, through spokesperson Terence Foran, says the stadium will be substantially complete in May.

"From our perspective, anyone suggesting that furniture delivery equates to an incomplete stadium is choosing to ignore all the successful events hosted at the stadium last year," he said.

4. A lot of beautiful trees

Like other Ontario municipalities, Hamilton is struggling with the emerald ash borer, which kills ash trees. That means the city will fell about 22,000 trees on public property by 2022. Already, Farr says, the absence is noticeable.

So far, the city has removed 6,761 ash trees. Many are downtown along King Street, Farr said. He doesn't like its impact on Hamilton's aesthetic, but there's not much anyone can do.

"What does the family from Brazil know about the emerald ash borer issue?" he said. "One of our greatest assets is our canopy, especially in the inner city."

5. The bus lane

Pan Am organizers wanted it. Transit advocates wanted it. Nearly half of city council wanted it. But despite the best efforts of some, Hamilton's downtown transit lane is gone.

The city put in a two-kilometre transit lane along King Street in October 2013. It was meant to be a one-year pilot project, but the October municipal election delayed its scrutiny until January. 

Lane opponents say it was unnecessary and slowed traffic. But 2015 Pan Am organizers fell into the pro-lane camp, saying it would make it easier to shuttle athletes from McMaster University to Tim Horton's Field.

Council voted in January to discontinue the lane, and it was gone the same week.

What will be done:

• The James North GO station will still have some landscaping outstanding, but it will be operational and mostly finished by the Pan Am Games, says Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikin. There is "no danger of it not being operational by Pan Am," she said.
• The city has done road and curb work to improve the look and functionality of city roads around the stadium. Most of that work was done last year, the city says, and will be finished by the Pan Am Games.