海角社区官网

Last week came the surprising announcement that the 海角社区官网Indy would move north to the suburbs after 40 years at Exhibition Place. Granted, 鈥渟urprising鈥� isn鈥檛 the only adjective that comes to mind. 鈥淏affling鈥� is another. 鈥淟udicrous鈥� works, too.

The ways in which the planned site for the 2026 event seems ill-suited to high-speed auto racing are many and varied. The track is right in the middle of 鈥淒owntown Markham,鈥� a term city leaders insist on using to describe a particular zone of recent high-density development, even though everyone who lives in Markham knows that 鈥渄owntown鈥� really means 鈥淭oronto.鈥�

But that zone is right next to a residential area, which is to say, literally right next to it. A regular suburban neighbourhood is situated just east of Kennedy Road, which will form part of the temporary IndyCar track. A seniors鈥� home will overlook the straightaway. Next to the seniors鈥� home is a sports-focused secondary school that operates on an unusual year-round schedule. This year, the first day of school was August 11. The weekend of next year鈥檚 海角社区官网Indy: August 14 to 16.

Welcome to school, kids. Please make sure your parents don鈥檛 drop you off on the straightaway. Or in the pit lane.

And speaking of the pit lane: it鈥檚 planned to be in the parking lot of Unionville Station, one of the biggest and busiest GO Transit stops in the area. Unless they鈥檙e planning to erect and tear down a racetrack in a matter of days, the event will surely make that whole area useless to commuters for weeks and cause congestion at every neighbouring station.

That鈥檚 all without even mentioning the disruption it鈥檒l cause to regular traffic, which can already be quite congested in that area during commuting hours. (This is the one way in which Downtown Markham can sometimes feel like a real downtown.)

I don鈥檛 think I鈥檓 being overly dramatic when I say that plopping an IndyCar race, with all its tremendous noise generated over the course of days by racecars travelling upwards of 350 kilometres an hour, in the middle of that neighbourhood will fall somewhere between seriously disruptive and totally chaotic for those who live, work and commute nearby. And did I mention the seniors鈥� home on the straightaway?

Mayor Frank Scarpitti, unsurprisingly chuffed to host the race in his city, said he was 鈥減roud to welcome this world-class event to our community.鈥� At the announcement last Wednesday, there was talk of the wonderful economic benefits that the event would bring, mostly from tourism-related spending.

But the business case for these things is always limited. Yes, hotels will get a bump; the two closest to the track already appear to be sold out for next year鈥檚 race weekend. Perhaps some restaurants and bars will also see an uptick in business for a few days, although there aren鈥檛 many in the immediate area, and they鈥檙e usually busy on a summer weekend anyway. Markville Mall is nearby, so hopefully the food court is ready for an uncharacteristic weekend rush.

Mostly, the benefit to Markham seems to be the opportunity for the city to puff out its chest as the home of a big sporting event 鈥� even though the 海角社区官网Indy hasn鈥檛 been a big a deal for quite a while now 鈥� and not just, you know, another GTA suburb.

Markham鈥檚 leaders, who鈥檝e long seemed to bristle at its suburban status, changed its designation from town to city in 2012, right about the time Scarpitti was championing an NHL-sized arena as the showpiece development for a 鈥淒owntown Markham鈥� that was then only in the planning stages.

Council shot down that idea once it became clear that the NHL had made no promises to make use of the building, whose construction would鈥檝e been half-funded by public money.

The site for that proposed arena? Right near where the racetrack will be every year for the next five. More than a decade later, the mayor鈥檚 finally got his sports venue. And this time, Markham residents didn鈥檛 even get asked about it.