Why the cycling races left Burlington

| May 23, 2011 | 4 Comments

Vote on city’s contribution May 24, 7pm, City Hall

Canadian Cycling Championships - downtown Burlington July 1st

I do not support providing any funding for this event, given most of it will be held outside Burlington

The Canadian National Cycling Championship races slated for Burlington in June and July – including the prestigious “criterium” race through downtown Burlington July 1 – have been pulled by the organizer.

The criterium will be held in Toronto. Two other races will be held in Belfountain. Of the remaining two races, only one is fully in Burlington, running through Aldershot along Snake/York/Plains/Waterdown roads. The other cuts through Milton, by Rattlesnake Point.

The organizer cited the high cost of policing for moving the races. These costs, however, have been known for months. In addition, last summer the city pledged $30,000 for each of two years, and the Burlington Hotel Association pledged $20,000 each of two years to hold the races here, which would have contributed significantly toward paying policing costs.

After the races were pulled, both the the city and the hotel association reduced their funding to $10,000 each.

Though the police are taking the heat for what’s happened, the reality is that this event has been troubled from the beginning, with the organizer failing to meet deadlines and complete expected tasks. These have all been publicly documented in briefings to the city’s Community Services Committee.

Did city staff cause undue red tape? I asked that question myself, and discovered the opposite is true – our staff spent hundreds of hours trying to work with the organizer to iron out the kinks.

Everyone at City Hall wanted this event to be successful, and didn’t want to pull the plug too soon, even though the writing seemed to be on the wall months ago that this wasn’t meant to be. That’s not through a lack of effort on the city’s part.

My take: It’s a shame that the races won’t be held here, but it’s better to take a pass than risk an event cobbled together at the last minute when public safety is involved. I do not support providing any funding for this event, given most of it will be held outside Burlington, and the remaining races are not the commitment the organizer made to us to get the initial funding. Further, there are many other worthy sporting events held in Burlington that get no city money.

What do you think? Should the city contribute to this project? Leave a comment below.

No related posts.

Category: Tourism and events

About the Author ()

  • Dnisbet

    I am with you 100%.  Why should we subsidize an event that will have nothing to do with the city.  Tell them to go elsewhere to get monetary support. 

  • Terry

    With all the great Burlington based sports organizations that could use that money, I still don’t understand why we are handing it over to a Toronto based promoter.
    When this deal was hatched in last council it seemed that some of council was determined to give this guy money regardless of whether or not it provided any benefit to Burlington. Some voices of reason called for a business plan and some due diligence but that was ignored largely by council. Now the guy can’t write a good cheque and it’s the Police Departments fault?
    I’m dying to hear the rational that is given to the hard working sports volunteers in this City for spending ANY of this money.

  • Jim

    “Why should we subsidize an event that will have nothing to do with the city?” Is 1.2 Million in direct economic benefit ‘nothing’?

  • Gary

    Perhaps I am missing something here, but I fail to see why the city should contribute a single penny to the cycling races.

«
»