A while back, I suggested an alternative to Google's opaque approach to the development of Quayside, after they thew in the towel in the face of civic opposition. Lately, there is been a lot of noise about Rogers wanting to demolish the SkyDome and rebuild it anew on the same site.
While there is enough controversy around the fact that they're suggesting to demolish a concrete stadium that's barely 30 years old and whether it should be moved to a more favourable location downtown, what's being missed as far as I can tell is the need for an under-utilized facility in such a valuable location in the first place. Is a stadium that's empty most of the time the best use for a space in a downtown area almost completely devoid of good public spaces?
The city should give Rogers an offer they can't refuse to move the stadium elsewhere and take advantage of the opportunity to turn the vacant property into something else, preferably predominantly for the public's use, while figuring out creative ways to come up with the money to acquire the land.
Imagine a hollowed-out stadium as a giant playground for all ages in the middle of the city. What a cool idea and much better use of land than a sports stadium, that only caters to a small segment of the population.