First, I suppose I should state up front that I am a former Ottawa Renegades season ticket holder. And I loved the view sitting in the stands at Landsdowne Park. At least when your team was losing as bad as ours was you had something else to look at (aside from girls trying to win the Mardi Gras beads contest).

Second, while I’m a huge Sens fan, I’ve never paid to see a game at Scotiabank Place and I never would. I did pay to see them win game 5 in New Jersey two years ago to advance to the finals. But we got to take a very easy public transit to the game. It was a Voyageur type bus (not OC transpo) that took us from the Port Authority in Manhattan to the Devil’s old arena. In fact I think that game was the last game played before it was torn down. It reminded me a bit of Scotiabank Place, that is, in the middle of nowhere. I have taken the “Sens” bus along the transitway once to a game where the tickets were given to me. We watched at Tunney’s Pasture as four packed buses drove past, with passengers paying extra for the privilege of standing all the way to the game. Never again!

So now here’s the crux of my thoughts:

1. We need to do something with Landsdowne Park. It’s in a beautiful setting, with an historic building next to it, and falling apart. The public transit isn’t great, but it’s walking distance for students from Carleton and Ottawa U. It’s not too far from the O-train, so you could argue that “water buses” could help ease congestion, at least when the canal is open.

Another option would be to replace Colonel By drive with light rail and convert the Government Conference Centre back to the rail station that it was. Anyone who has every attended a conference there knows that the acoustics are awful. It was designed to be a train station where none of the announcements are understood.

So whether it’s football or an outdoor concert venue or just plain development with a park for small outdoor theater and neighbourhood sports, it’s simply a disgrace that the nation’s capital can allow a venue to fall into such disrepair.

2. When the Gliebermans left town the second time, they did so with a lot more class. They refunded our season ticket money, and said they would give (not sell) the list to any future group that wanted to run a team here. Why not take them up on their offer and ask those former ticket holders whether they would go to Kanata?

3. A stadium in Kanata means everyone drives. Even people who live the same distance from a stadium as I do to Landsdowne would drive simply because Kanata is simply not designed for walking and most families have at least two cars. People who live in the centre of town do so to be able to walk everywhere.  We do 80 percent of our groceries on foot, even in the winter because we have three different stores within a short bike ride or a 10 minute walk.

4. Just because people play soccer, doesn’t mean they will drive to a stadium in Kanata to pay to watch soccer. People who play soccer are busy enough without spending time driving for an hour to get to a stadium to watch it.

5. BUILD AT BAYVIEW – it’s a transit hub. The Bluesfest and other festivals are able to have thousands of people attend and parking and public transit are not an issue. It’s the perfect venue, close to Gatineau, transit, and the centre of town. Okay, I admit I’m biased because I could walk home after the game.

Let’s hope council makes a decision and sticks with it today.