Humber College takes over Lakeshore Lions Arena

A few months back, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) announced a complete redevelopment of the Lakeshore Collegiate campus in partnership with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) giving them a natural turf and also an indoor practice field for the Toronto FC soccer team. It turned out that MLSE used this as leverage to get what they wanted from the City Of Toronto. They get natural turf at BMO Field and Lamport Stadium as a practice field. So it was back to the drawing board for TDSB Trustee Bruce Davis. On Wednesday Davis announced a new agreement with Humber College for the Lakeshore Lions Arena. The biggest difference is that this is for the arena only and there will be no changes to Lakeshore Collegiate or the football field. The other difference is that the funding is already in place and construction is set to begin pronto and will be finished Feb. 2010. That's what happens when you're dealing with people who get things done. Humber has done a lot of these kind of projects in the area. So what does this mean to our hopes for a community centre?





Well, that's a little more complicated. If you take a look at the floor plan (pictured), obviously we're not going to get a community centre in the arena. Most of the space will be used to permanently house Humber College's Schools Of Performing Arts, Media Studies & Information Technologies. This will include dance studios, change rooms, rehearsal halls, media studios, technical labs, a lecture hall, meeting rooms, offices and a student lounge and space for a 3,000 square foot black box theater. In exchange, we get a full size regulation gym (in purple). Humber College has a 20 year lease for the space. Lakeshore Collegiate will use the gym during the day and during off hours, the community will be able to use the gym and use the other space for other programs. The only thing is there aren't a lot of students in these programs so the building will be a ghost town during the day and I'm not sure the community can do enough with the space to turn it into any kind of real community centre.





When the TDSB made the deal with MLSE a few months ago, it certainly looked like they threw out the baby with the bathwater. And I guess that what Davis learned from that is he had better get some concessions from whoever he makes the deal with or somebody (probably me) is going to be pissed with him. So if you think that my dream of a complete exercise facility for the disabled is dead, you would be wrong. Davis made an announcement that went over the heads of a lot of folks in attendance. But it got my attention. A committee will be formed that will look at proposed community usage of Humber College properties in South Etobicoke. And believe me, they have a lot of space and they know how to use it. This committee will be chaired by Humber College President John Davies and LAMP Executive Director Russ Ford. I was sitting next to Russ at the meeting. We have discussed my goal many times and I appreciate that Russ and the folks at LAMP want to help me achieve that goal. But I have always said that if I'm not in the committee meeting pushing that agenda, it's not going to happen. I don't care if this is in the arena or somewhere else as long as it's somewhere. Certainly it's a long road to the reality of an exercise facility for the disabled. But that reality is a little bit closer today than it was yesterday. Just give me the space and I can make it happen.