Downtown York Boulevard parking garage to be used as rooftop concert venue

Hamilton will allow small, open-air musical performances atop the York Boulevard parkade if the province relaxes pandemic emergency orders to allow gatherings of at least 50 people.

City council voted 14-2 to put out an open call" to would-be operators interested in turning the little-used top floor of the six-level downtown garage into a temporary concert venue.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger and downtown councillor Jason Farr championed the sky-high musical venue, arguing it would support a pandemic-battered arts industry and allow live entertainment that is not happening anywhere else" because of COVID-19 restrictions.

If we can make it work in that space, I think it would be absolutely brilliant," said Eisenberger.

Here's how it could work: a city-licensed operator would hire musicians to play on the rooftop, fence off and arrange pandemic-distanced seating and sell whatever number of tickets are allowable under COVID-19 gathering rules.

That's assuming provincial gathering limits are relaxed by the end of the summer, noted Jason Thorne, the city's general manager of economic development. There's no guarantee it will be able to happen," he warned. But if the rules do change, he said the city can have the venue ready to rock and roll.

Some local promoters have already written council to express their support

That includes Casbah owner Brodie Schwendiman and Mark Furukawa of Dr. Disc, who called the idea a very visible, forward-thinking way to support not only the live music scene itself, but also its musical creators."

Not every council member was a fan of the garage band concept, however.

Mountain councillor Terry Whitehead complained the plan unfairly focused more resources and attention on the downtown while ignoring the rest of the city. Our taxes come from everybody, not just downtown," Whitehead said, later suggesting the west Mountain bocce facility as a venue.

Thorne said city parks and associated outdoor facilities will not work because preventing pandemic-unsafe crowds from gathering around fenced performances would be difficult.

He said it is unlikely people will crowd around the base of a parking garage to hear music six floors up.

Coun. Brad Clark said the idea was worth a shot - so long as the top level was safely fenced to protect excited, passionate dancers from losing their footing" and waltzing off the roof.

Matthew Van Dongen is a Hamilton-based reporter covering transportation for The Spectator. Reach him via email: mvandongen@thespec.com