News:

Removal of Bleachers at Victoria Park

October 18, 2005

Brian's reply to the article which appeared in The Hamilton Spectator on October 15, 2005:

Re: Old bleachers at Victoria Park hit the scrap heap (October 15, 2005)

As the Ward 1 Councillor, I'd like to take this opportunity to explain this project. The baseball bleachers and associated building were built for the days of “Big Four” fastball in the 1960s and 1970s. During that time, fastball was an important spectator sport drawing hundreds of paid customers to games. When this league ended, over the years the steel Victoria Park baseball bleachers declined to the point where they were unsafe, ultimately requiring significant repairs.

In response, the City undertook an analysis, determining that the bleachers would cost over $140,000 to repair. With little current use of the bleachers (other than as a hangout for undesirables), I took the issue to two community meetings (November 22, 2004 and April 26,2005) and the community decided that this money would be best spent by: removing the bleachers (and opening up the front of the park on King Street), installing smaller bleachers and resurfacing the asphalt and adding more grassed area, resurfacing the multi-use and tennis courts, installing kid-friendly materials in the playground area, planting 10 or more large trees, and renovating the former bocce courts into community garden plots.

With these improvements and completion of a Master Plan for the Park in 2006, Victoria Park can continue to play the historically important community role that the Hamilton Trades and Labour Council envisioned for it in the 1890s.