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A few pics I took last night. Very nice facility from the small glimpse I had (only the upper observation level is open for the event). The finishes were to a higher standard than other town facilities. The location is tricky, as there is no on-site event parking, but transit worked well.

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Do forum members here believe that the Toronto 2015 pan am games could be a test run to bring the Olympics to Toronto in the future? Will the decision makers be watching Toronto closely to see how functional we are to put on major events?

Thanks


Most likely. John Tory and Minnan-Wong are big Olympics supporters. I could see Toronto going ahead with a bid after we host the Pan Am games. The decision whether to bid for 2024 was "deferred", it's not dead. It could be brought back to life under new council. We will see, a lot of things will have to work in the city's favour including pulling off a successful Pan Ams this summer.
 
The recently completed Milton velodrome has been in the news lately, so out of curiosity I went on google maps to see where it's located. Turns out they put it in the middle of nowhere. I thought it was pretty lame that Vaughan chose to build it's new city hall at Major Mac & Keele rather than VMC, but this is suburban stupid taken to new heights. The number of people who will take transit to get there will be precisely zero. They couldn't even have it next to a highway interchange at least? Just brilliant.


From the Milton Velodrome site: "The facility will be a prominent feature located within the Milton Education Village, and will be adjacent to the planned Laurier Milton campus. The Milton Education Village will be a 400-acre comprehensively planned neighbourhood that includes the Centre, a university campus, innovation centre, integrated transit hub, cycling and trail connections, student housing and residential developments, and other supporting services."
http://www.mattamynationalcyclingcentre.ca/en/index.asp

No, no. All of Milton is gorgeous. Tewder said so. ;-)

You wouldn't know. At least i can find it on a map :)
 
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The recently completed Milton velodrome has been in the news lately, so out of curiosity I went on google maps to see where it's located. Turns out they put it in the middle of nowhere. I thought it was pretty lame that Vaughan chose to build it's new city hall at Major Mac & Keele rather than VMC, but this is suburban stupid taken to new heights. The number of people who will take transit to get there will be precisely zero. They couldn't even have it next to a highway interchange at least? Just brilliant.

Seeing that 2011 Streetview photo makes for an interesting comparison. That same road is now a six-lane arterial with bikes lanes and multi-use paths. Every road leading to the velodrome has bike lanes and paths. And I took transit there yesterday. So it's far from perfect, and still surrounded mostly by farms today, but it's being built with a plan apparently.

(oh, that, and they got this land for free when Mattamy did a swap for a small parcel closer to the GO Station and Downtown Milton...)
 
If you guys have seen any of the "cycling armies" that literally take over the roads in this area of Halton, then you might not question this location of a major cycling facility.
 
If you guys have seen any of the "cycling armies" that literally take over the roads in this area of Halton, then you might not question this location of a major cycling facility.

Have a few friends that cycle competitively and they tell me they often train (I guess they are one of them there armies you refer to) in the Milton area.....not far at all from the veledrome location the way they describe it.....

....in conversation, however, even they are very doubtful that this has much viability after the games....they explain how there is a big difference between road cycling and track cycling and that the two communities don't overlap much. One guy at work who we would describe as "lives on his bike" tells me he has never ridden on a banked track in his life and has no plans to.
 
Have a few friends that cycle competitively and they tell me they often train (I guess they are one of them there armies you refer to) in the Milton area.....not far at all from the veledrome location the way they describe it.....

....in conversation, however, even they are very doubtful that this has much viability after the games....they explain how there is a big difference between road cycling and track cycling and that the two communities don't overlap much. One guy at work who we would describe as "lives on his bike" tells me he has never ridden on a banked track in his life and has no plans to.

That is a definitely a good point, and a good question. Viability is always a concern. It's good to hear that they've designed other uses - basketball/volleyball courts, fitness facility, running track, bike repair shop. Hopefully that helps.

I was just pointing out that if it was to be put anywhere, it makes sense to put it in Milton. If you recall, Peter Gilgan and other Milton-area cycling groups raised about $13 million (approx 25% of the total) towards the cost of this building (hence the Mattamy name). Makes total sense to me that if a fundraising campaign of this nature were to be successful, it would be in Halton.

I'm optimistic.
 
That is a definitely a good point, and a good question. Viability is always a concern. It's good to hear that they've designed other uses - basketball/volleyball courts, fitness facility, running track, bike repair shop. Hopefully that helps.

I was just pointing out that if it was to be put anywhere, it makes sense to put it in Milton. If you recall, Peter Gilgan and other Milton-area cycling groups raised about $13 million (approx 25% of the total) towards the cost of this building (hence the Mattamy name). Makes total sense to me that if a fundraising campaign of this nature were to be successful, it would be in Halton.

I'm optimistic.

I am not one of the folks questioning the location.....the town of Milton committed funds, raised funds and did the land deal to get the facility and, it seems, are using it to spark a master planned development in the area.

I also think the big difference between this and the previously referred to Montreal veledrome is that it has other uses other than the niche sport that is track cycling. Multi-sport applications and community use are hoped (and should) keep the thing opening and operating.....which is good for the cycling community as there will now be a facility for young up and comers to develop.

I was simply pointing out what I have been told and that is that the people you see cycling all over the roads of Milton and Halton Hills are not (likely) the main target audience for using the track.....it seems there is a whole separate group of cyclists that are hoped to do this.
 
I am not one of the folks questioning the location.....the town of Milton committed funds, raised funds and did the land deal to get the facility and, it seems, are using it to spark a master planned development in the area.

I also think the big difference between this and the previously referred to Montreal veledrome is that it has other uses other than the niche sport that is track cycling. Multi-sport applications and community use are hoped (and should) keep the thing opening and operating.....which is good for the cycling community as there will now be a facility for young up and comers to develop.

I was simply pointing out what I have been told and that is that the people you see cycling all over the roads of Milton and Halton Hills are not (likely) the main target audience for using the track.....it seems there is a whole separate group of cyclists that are hoped to do this.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/pan...gamechanger_for_canadian_sprint_cyclists.html

Link from the UT front page. Yikes, $56M for a velodrome? Well -- the positive spin, I guess, would be to hope it has a Calgary-luge-track success. If that's where we want our governments to spend money.
 
To those questioning the popularity of the non-event programming at the Velo, virtually all classes are now sold out, with big waiting lists. Even memberships are almost sold out. So far, a massive success. But it needs to maintain momentum.
 
To those questioning the popularity of the non-event programming at the Velo, virtually all classes are now sold out, with big waiting lists. Even memberships are almost sold out. So far, a massive success. But it needs to maintain momentum.

I did not sense that anyone was questioning the popularity of the community "other sports" programming.....i think, initially, people thought this was purely a veledrome and were comparing it's potential future with other veledromes in the past in Canada.....the lesson that the designers/operators of this facility seemed to have learned (well) that if you want a veledrome you need to supplement its use with other things.
 
You're right. But in this case, it's the cycling programs that have sold out first. And filled with roadies, from what I could see.
 
The executive commitee will decide today whether to spend an extra 1 million on the Luminous Veil, using money saved from other Pan Am projects. John Tory has said he’d prefer that money be spent on something else. Lighting on the underside of the bridge has been scrapped, however the control system will allow for eventual completion if money can be found.


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And then there's this:

Ontario anti-poverty advocates are seething over Toronto’s plan to spend some $3.8 million dollars lighting up a city bridge for the Pan Am Games when that money could easily be spent tackling the issue of homelessness.

The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) publicly released a letter to Toronto City Council on Wednesday, admonishing them for spending millions to beautify the Toronto landmark instead of providing more financial assistance to the city’s homeless population.

"We call on you to kill the lights on the Bloor Viaduct," OCAP writes in its statement. "To proceed with this obscene misuse of public resources will be an insult to communities living in poverty that we shall have no alternative to respond to."
Jennifer Pagliaro ‏@jpags
One letter to committee against the Veil project says it is just a bunch of LED lights that are a "window dressing" and a "hazard to birds."

Yeah, as if $3.8 million will somehow solve homelessness in this city. The proposed budged has more money set aside for that to begin with. All this is just another example of why Toronto can't have nice things.
 

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