HawthorneVillager.com

I've argued against the Velodrome ad nauseum. I am resigned to the fact that we are getting one and I am just waiting for the day I can say I told you so to anyone who supports this inevitable disaster. Perhaps that'll be my campaign slogan if I ever run for city council, "Vote 4 VCola, he told you so!"

You clearly need someone to fancy up your slogans.

How about:

VCOLA 2014: RIGHT WHEN YOU WERE WRONG

You'll all be happy to know that the first step down the path of the velo drome project is 40% over budget. At the Monday night meeting, council approved by a vote of 9 to 2 to increase the amount for the initial consulting work needed for the planning and zoning amendments to accommdate the velo drome, by an additional $12,532.00 over the $ 30 K previously approved and budgeted for. Councillor Nelson and I voted against. The scary thing is I was the only member of council to question staff about this budget increase. I am afraid that this is just the tip of the iceberg of what is yet to come. Also as an aside, the reports coming out of the 2012 Olympics pertaining to the legacy of those games state that the 2 white elephants of these games are the swimming facility and the velo drome.


Rick Malboeuf
Councillor Ward 4

Municipal governments are out of control everywhere, but particularly in the GTA. Some of these spending plans are insane. Look at York Region and their excessive level of debt ($2 billion), and they're thinking about gambling even more money on an arena. Peel has historically been pretty well run, but I think old Hazel might be losing her edge with the horrible plan for Hurontario street, which I estimate will be a complete disaster or will just be cancelled altogether after a ton of money has been wasted. And of course there's the city of Toronto, with the horrible TransitCity plan that won't die, and god knows how much money being wasted on countless other things. Just look at the St Clair street car disaster. And for the last 10 years we've had a childish government running the province, behaving as if it's a municipality with money to burn. $1 billion to cancel a power plant, $8 billion on a worthless windmill scam courtesy of Samsung, billions scammed away by contractors and cronies on e-health... Do you people really not care that all your money is being gambled and/or wasted? In Milton infrastructure is lagging behind demand (roads, pathways, parks, bike lanes, etc), but we're spending/gambling money on pet projects (velodrome, sports center, arts center). Milton/Halton isn't nearly as bad as the other examples I mentioned, but the real question is.... What will they come up with next?

Big surprise.

We need to keep on top of this and hold council accountable for their votes when the next election comes around.

For a relatively conservative municipality, we sure do have a lot of big-spending liberals on council.

Can we name the 9 that voted for? I think its time we let our representatives know we DONT WANT THIS! Enough is enough, lets put a stop to this, its going to cost us big time.

Love it! I'll drive around town chanting it through a public address system.

Thanks Rick and to the rest - A TOAD A SO! A TOAD A SO!

Apparently as per Rick M it was only he and Nelson who voted against so I''d assume the rest voted yes.

Im sure its probably been written already, but can Rick and Zeeshan for starters comment here and let us know if they're still going full steam ahead with this or if they're hearing the milton community's backlash against this and are potentially changing their mind or where they stand. This is becoming a potential major election issue for me and others and I want to make sure the councillors all know they're going against alot of their constituents on this.

How do you this board speaks as the entire Milton Community?

The biggest problem with something like this is; what is the Velodrome good for after the Pan Am games?

Nobody will use it. It's going to be empty. It's a waste of money and land.

Sounds like the 407. Use our tax dollars to build it, then charge us an arm and a leg to use it.





http://www.thestar.com/sports/panamgame ... for-milton

They've already had Velodromes in Winnipeg and Montreal. Guess what? Both were failures.

I find it suspicious how they are building it right next to the proposed WLU Campus. It will probably become part of the University campus as a basketball court or hockey arena when it fails as a velodrome.





http://www.torontosun.com/2012/01/31/pa ... -velodrome



Higher Property Taxes... Coming Soon to Milton.

Thanks to a damn Velodrome!

I disagree. Disclosure, I am an avid cyclist so there is my bias. I witnessed a lot people drive all the way from Toronto to London, ON to ride at the Forest City Velodrome. That was 4.5 hours in the car to ride for less than 2. I did it for a long while, but it got to be costly (time and fuel). For most cyclists outside of London, it is almost impossible to enroll in learn to race courses and train since most of that has to take place on weekday evenings so that racing can take place on the weekends. I know of lots of people that would take full advantage of the Milton facility with it being much more accessible to GTA dwellers. There is a huge pool of cyclists between road, mountain bike, and cyclocross disciplines, and the fact that an indoor track is year-round will be very appealing for a growing demographic. Cyclists already drive to Milton to ride the hills, and trails, this is no different. I've lost count how many times I've come out to Milton to go road riding, or ride at Kelso/Hilton Falls/Agreement Forest etc.

I understand that non-cyclists probably see this a waste of land and money, but I don't think its accurate to say that. I'd argue that a hockey arena is a waste of space for someone who doesn't play hockey. You can't please everyone, but I think this facility will see good use.

Pricing is hard to establish, but I recall for around $40 you could do a learn to ride the track course including a track bike rental. For around $100 you could get a trial membership that lasts 8 weeks (great for winter season), and a full year round membership was around $300. You can also ride as a non member, for $25. Similar pricing to Joyride150, the indoor bike park in Markham, which has done exceptionally well (place is packed all year round). They could probably afford to reduce some of these costs given the large pool of people that they will have access to (versus London).

It was built with borrowed money. The tolls were used to pay off the loan. The sale paid off the construction and then some.

Tax dollars were not used to build it.