Grand Prix de Formule 1 de Montréal

[WestAust]

Once again, big MONTREAL BUSINESSES SHY AWAY!

 

they shy away, not because of montreal, but because of who runs the F1 (Bernie) and how he do business, the more money he knows you have, the more he'll try to get from you.

[Ornello Mastrocola]

they shy away, not because of montreal, but because of who runs the F1 (Bernie) and how he do business, the more money he knows you have, the more he'll try to get from you.

 

There is some truth to that but the businesses here tend to not look a the bigger picture. There are cities around the world lined up wanting to host a GP. WestAust it isn't just F1 that our business leaders shy away from. The Expos, The Habs, The Allouettes...see apttern here, all Americans from Jeffrey Loria, to Bb Wettenhaul, to George Gillette. Thank God for Joey Saputo!

[ErickMontreal]

Grand Prix: Québec laisse la porte ouverte à un OSBL

 

Martin Croteau - La Presse

03 novembre 2008 | 08 h 09

 

Les moteurs résonneront-ils sur le circuit Gilles-Villeneuve en juin prochain?

 

Québec n'exclut pas de créer un organisme à but non lucratif pour organiser le Grand Prix de Montréal. En revanche, le gouvernement provincial refuse net, comme Gérald Tremblay, de se faire le promoteur de la course.

 

Après avoir refusé de commenter le dossier dans les derniers jours, le ministre responsable de la métropole, Raymond Bachand, a affirmé hier qu'il poursuivait ses efforts pour sauver le Grand Prix du Canada, rayé du calendrier de la Formule 1 le mois dernier.«Les gouvernements ne seront pas les promoteurs, a-t-il indiqué lors d'un point de presse. Mais je n'exclus pas qu'un organisme sans but lucratif puisse s'impliquer, comme au Festival de jazz.»

 

Comme le maire Tremblay la veille, M. Bachand a assuré que plusieurs solutions sont toujours sur la table afin de sauver la course. Ottawa, Québec et Montréal tentent de mettre sur pied un plan de dernière minute pour convaincre le grand patron de la F1, Bernie Ecclestone, de revenir sur sa décision.

 

Le patron du Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberté, et le propriétaire du Canadien, George Gillett, avaient été pressentis pour voler au secours du Grand Prix. Mais les dernières données portent à croire que ces hommes d'affaires ne sont pas intéressés par l'aventure.

 

D'autres entrepreneurs le seraient toutefois, affirme Raymond Bachand. «Le secteur privé de Montréal, les restaurateurs, les hôteliers, les commerçants sont non seulement très intéressés, mais ils sont aussi prêts à s'engager financièrement», a-t-il dit.

 

Interrogé à savoir quelles sont les chances de survie du Grand Prix, le ministre a répondu: «Je demeure confiant, mais je ne mettrais pas de probabilité.»

Préparer «l'après-Grand Prix»

 

Le contrat qui lie le Grand Prix de Montréal à la F1 devait durer jusqu'en 2011, fait valoir le chef de l'opposition à la Ville, Benoît Labonté. Il estime que les gouvernements devraient tenter de sauver les trois dernières présentations. Mais, par la suite, ils devraient carrément le larguer.

 

«Après, j'oublierais ça, a-t-il indiqué. Après 2011, on ne sera jamais capables de concurrencer au plan financier les Dubaï et les Shanghai de ce monde. Il faut commencer tout de suite à planifier l'après-Grand Prix.»

 

La Ville devrait plutôt tout mettre en oeuvre pour attirer une autre manifestation d'envergure internationale, affirme le candidat à la mairie. M. Labonté rêve d'attirer à Montréal l'Exposition universelle de 2020. «C'est quelque chose qu'on contrôlera complètement, a-t-il souligné. On ne sera pas à la merci tous les trois ans d'un chantage financier qui nous coûtera des dizaines de milliers de dollars.»

[ErickMontreal]

Fix Grand Prix mess now: Labonté

Financial void must be filled to make up for loss of F1 race, borough mayor says

 

The Gazette

Published: 6 hours ago

 

Montreal should start planning now - not in 2011 - on how to fill the economic gap created by the departure of Grand Prix racing from this city, the head of Montreal's municipal opposition says.

 

And while Benoit Labonté, mayor of the downtown Ville Marie borough, which will take the most direct economic hit if the estimated $75 million in revenue generated each summer by the Formula One race stops flowing, says he's optimistic the event can be saved, he thinks his scheme to bring a world's fair to Montreal in 2020 could be a viable Plan B.

 

"It's something we would control completely, something that would bring long-term investments into Montreal, and it's a project on which we would never be ... financially blackmailed by others elsewhere in this world, the Bernie Ecclestones of this world," he said, referring to the man who runs F1 racing.

 

"So we should already think about a Plan B and already be putting this plan in motion to compensate for the loss, the inevitable loss, of the Grand Prix."

 

Labonté's comments follow an admission Saturday by Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay that no level of government should become a promoter for the race, which was dropped from the F1 calendar last month after a financial dispute between Ecclestone and local promoters.

 

Labonté, head of the Vision Montreal party, noted that prior to his entry into politics and while he was head of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, he was involved in the negotiations for the Grand Prix of Canada contract.

 

"Many, many times we were told, 'It's finished. It will never come back,' but finally we found a solution. I think that will be the case for the last three years.

 

"But after that - just forget it, it's finished, it's over. Never, after 2011 ... never will we be able to compete with the Shanghais and Dubais of this world," he said, referring to more profitable racing venues for F1 organizers.

 

"And we have to think now to develop a Plan B for after the Grand Prix, not wait until it's finally over to think about it."

[Habsfan]

Labonté commence vraiment à me tapper sur les nerfs. Tous ce qu'il fait c'est qu'il bit.ch contre le gouvernement en place.

[Ornello Mastrocola]

Labonte must wake up every morning stare himself in the mirror and see "LOSER" tatooed to his forehead. What a ball buster!

[Malek]

il commence à te tapper les nerf habsfan? moi ça fait déjà des mois que j'ignore tout ce qu'il raconte. Il est totalement ridicule.

[Habsfan]

non, ça fait déjà un p'tit bout de temps que je le trouve énervant!!

[ericairlines]

F1 : le GP de Chine 2009 avancé

 

mercredi 05.11.2008, 19:11

Le Grand Prix de Chine, qui devait se dérouler mi-octobre 2009, a été avancé au mois d’avril 2009. Avec l’avancée de l’épreuve de Shanghai, le championnat finira plus vite que prévu, début novembre au lieu de mi-novembre. Le GP de Belgique se tiendra le 30âout. Dans cette dernière actualisation du calendrier 2009, le GP de France disparaît. La Fédération française du sport automobile a annoncé qu’elle ne souhaitait plus promouvoir cette épreuve en raison d’un contexte économique difficile. Aucun autre promoteur éventuel ne s’est manifesté et le GP de France perd donc sa place. Calendrier 2009 : 29 mars : Australie ; 5 avril : Malaisie ; 19 avril : Chine ; 26 avril : Bahreïn ; 10 mai : Espagne ; 24 mai : Monaco ; 7 juin : Turquie ; 21 juin : Grande-Bretagne ; 12 juillet : Allemagne ; 26 juillet : Hongrie ; 23 août : Europe (Valence/Esp) ; 30 août : Belgique ; 13 septembre : Italie ; 27 septembre : Singapour ; 4 octobre : Japon ; 18 octobre : Brésil ; 1er novembre : Abou Dhabi.

[Malek]

La ville ne donne plus de permis pour des bars after hours, son service d'incendie fait tout en son possible pour qu'il n'y ait pas d'evenements tel que le bal en blanc, sensation et autres mega partys. Les policiers font des descentes regulierement dans les bars pour toutes sortes de raison stupides. Quand tu fous a terre ton red light district pour en faire un quartier d'ecolos et "d'artistes" c'est assez claire me semble. J'ai d'autres exemples parceque je suis tres renseigné dans ce secteur, mais je préfère les garder pour moi-même.

 

Disons que Montréal se gériatrise.

 

Voici un autre exemple à New York ou des comités de citoyens, un peu comme à Montréal, font tout pour tuer leur nightlife... ce que Montréal tente d'imiter petit à petit.

 

4 A.M. Last Calls Could Be Headed The Way of Smoky Bars

 

By CHRISTOPHER FAHERTY, Staff Reporter of the Sun | April 17, 2008

 

City nightlife industry insiders fear that the days of 4 a.m. last calls are numbered.

 

In most parts of Manhattan, bar and club owners say, it has become nearly impossible to open new nightlife establishments that are permitted to serve alcohol until 4 a.m. — the Prohibition-era curfew that is seen as a bedrock of New York City's party town identity.

 

Community boards that now hold substantial clout with the New York State Liquor Authority are increasingly requesting that liquor licenses be tied to earlier closing times, often at or before 2 a.m., a number of advocates for the nightlife industry said.

 

"It is a trend that has certainly increased in the last six months, and if it keeps increasing there are going to be serious problems for the nightlife industry and the city's economy," a lawyer for the New York Nightlife Association, Robert Bookman, said. An independent study conducted at the request of his association found that city nightlife establishments garner 58% of their revenues between the hours of 1 a.m. and 4 a.m., he said. Under state law, which says the closing time for bars in the city is 4 a.m., the liquor authority lacks the power to place stipulations on the operating hours of bars and clubs. However, if a bar owner agrees to limit its hours of operation with the local community board, the liquor authority will write it into the license.

 

Community boards for years have provided the liquor authority with recommendations for liquor licenses, but only recently has their influence become a determining factor in designating them. "The new leadership that took over during the last few years of the Pataki administration has been dramatically more responsive to the community than any I've ever seen with many years of experience with the SLA, and I think that's a good thing," a state assemblyman who represents the Chelsea area of Manhattan, Richard Gottfried, said.

 

A spokesman for the liquor authority, William Crowley, said the agency determines liquor licenses on a case-by-case basis and follows the letter of the law.

 

Some say community boards are wielding their newfound power with the liquor authority to force bars to close earlier than ever before.

 

"More and more of the community boards are insisting that bars close at 2 a.m. or earlier," Ben Leventhal, the editor in chief of Eater.com, a Web log that chronicles many of the liquor license issues arising in the city, said. "It's become the community boards' de facto bargaining chip."

 

Matthew Piacentini, an entrepreneur poised to open a European-style parlor, said he decided to back out of plans to open the lounge in a commercial building on Hudson Street in TriBeCa after the community board stipulated he would have to close at midnight on weekdays and 1 a.m. on weekends. Mr. Piacentini pitched his establishment as an upscale anecdote to nightclubs for a clientele interested in having conversation. "If I could only be open for six hours there was no chance I could bring in the necessary revenue," he said.

 

Brad Hoylman, the chairman of Community Board 2, which covers Greenwich Village and SoHo, said the board approves 90% of all liquor license applications, and 80% of those are tied to certain stipulations such as time constraints.

 

"In our neighborhoods, most people don't want to live next to a nightlife establishment, he said. "What we try to do is be reasonable and have a fair negotiation with the applicant."

 

Community Board 3, which covers the bar-saturated neighborhoods of the East Village and the Lower East Side, is widely described as the stingiest board in the city when it comes to obtaining a new liquor license. The board's district manager, Susan Stetzer, said her board doesn't stipulate closing times, but that the applicants themselves come to the board with their own closing times.

 

According to minutes from the board's monthly meetings in November, December, and January, the most recent records available, not a single liquor license recommendation was granted to a bar that would close after 3 a.m. on weekends and 2 a.m. on weekdays.

 

Copyright 2008 The New York Sun.