By Staff
November 14, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
A Burlingtonian is at least going to get a chance to carry the Pan Am Torch. We didn’t get to hold any of the Pan Am events at Sherwood Forest Park because of the mis-information that was handed out by both the city, the then Council member.
We did get to rent a brand new soccer pitch at City View Park to the soccer teams for practices but the public will not be allowed to watch any of those practices. We will be getting a pretty decent sized cheque for letting them use the space.
And the Delta Hotel that will rise on Lakeshore Road along with a 22 and a seven storey condominium won’t be open in time for the games either.
But someone from Burlington will carry the torch through the city. And the public is going to be involved in choosing who that person is going to be.
Burlington is described as a major celebration community for the Pan Am Torch Relay and will choose a local resident to carry the Pan Am flame on behalf of the city.
The Burlington Pan Am Community Engagement Committee is accepting applications and nominations until Dec. 14. To be considered, applicants or nominators must submit a photo and a Letter of Interest explaining the connection to Burlington and what being Burlington’s community torchbearer would mean to him or her. The public will then vote on a short list of names the committee will release.
If you’re interested send your application to: www.burlington.ca/panam .
Allan Magi, the city’s executive director of capital works said: “We encourage residents who will be 13 years and older on May 30, 2015, to apply to be Burlington’s community torchbearer. “We’ll be looking to the community to help select the finalist to run for Burlington when the flame comes to the city.”
The short list of torchbearer nominees, including their submissions, will be shared at on the panam portion of the city web site.
Residents will be asked to select the community torchbearer to represent Burlington beginning Dec. 19, 2014. Voting will close on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015. The selected torchbearer will be notified in mid-January.
The relay begins in May 2015 with the traditional Aztec lighting ceremony at the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico. The Canadian journey for the flame starts with its arrival in Toronto on May 30, 2015.
It will then visit five cities in Canada, as well as 130 communities across Ontario.
Quote: “We didn’t get to hold any of the Pan Am events at Sherwood Forest Park because of the mis-information that was handed out by both the city, the then Council member.” –
Um, no. Sherwood Forest Park residents veto’d the push by City to hold the events there. It got ‘legal’. Subsequently, Mayor Cam Jackson and Council threw the Pan Am Event up to the “remote” City View Park. This was done without ANY public consultation, (save for a measly ‘sidebar’ announcement in Rick Craven’s Ward that drew 30-ish people. BTW, that ‘newsletter’ has since gone missing from Craven’s website … ) Meanwhile, a petition was created to PREVENT the transfer of the Games to what-is-now City View Park. It garnered over 300 signatures in less then two months. It had no impact. City Council had already DECIDED, in conjunction with the PanAm Org, to hold their ‘closed-to-the-public’ event there. A COMPLETE redesign of the park ensued in the 11th hour that MANDATED tons of artificial grass into this supposed UNESCO World Biosphere to accommodate the ‘Pan Am’ FIFA grade soccer field requirements. To date, a FULL environmental impact assessment (EIA) has not been done that takes into account the actual VOLUME & ANALYSIS of artificial turf in this Environmental Sensitive Area (ESA). FACT.
Quote: “We did get to rent a brand new soccer pitch at City View Park to the soccer teams for practices but the public will not be allowed to watch any of those practices.” There are now three fields of artificial turf in this UNESCO Biosphere that, when they expire in 5-10 years, will go, by LAW, to a ‘hazardous waste facility’. Unaware taxpayers are currently on the hook to then REPLACE these Pan Am and federally ‘Action Plan’ subsidized plastic fields. (Remember this is a CLOSED event, no public allowed. Weird how that works with taxpayers money, no? )
Oh, and during the official opening of City View Park, Councillor Sharman made very clear, on the record, that City was ‘over-capacity’ with soccer fields.
How any of this adds up to good ‘long term’ fiscal management or a culturally sound use of ‘public’ lands is questionable. Promoting the Games locally will, seemingly, translate into a ‘sports tourism’ event that will bring in some revenue to City coffers. Magi calls it a “once in a lifetime opportunity”. Sure, great for 2 months next summer, but otherwise, what a waste, what a shame, and what a mistake.
What is ‘newsworthy’ is that Burlington now has the ‘global’ distinction of having the only ‘UNESCO World Biosphere’ filled with plastic grass. Hooray Burlington! Bring on the torch bearer! – Just don’t drop that torch on the artificial turf: it’s highly flammable and there are no facilities at City View Park to deal with that kind of toxic wildfire …