Quick, get a bulldozer and a jackhammer, this opportunity won't last for long!

The crumbling of Lansdowne Park's southside stands presents the perfect opportunity to finally do something useful with the site, a fact that hasn't been lost on city council.

Last week, councillors Clive Doucet and Peter Hume proposed the idea of an international design competition for a plan to revitalize and beautify the site as a signature community gathering place that would preserve existing structures, such as the Aberdeen Pavilion.

It's certainly time to do something with this white elephant. Let's face it, professional football is as dead as lacrosse in this city. The wishful thinking of a couple of thousand diehard fans shouldn't stand in the way of a redevelopment that will better serve a much larger segment of the community. If we include Lebreton Flats and Lynx Stadium, we have three premium locations with which to develop projects that make some kind of economic sense, by either boosting local business development or tourism spending.

Let's recap what's been put forward by various interests in recent months:

OCRI and partners have been pushing the idea of an innovation hub, a signature edifice that would showcase local expertise and bring under one roof all the resources needed by local tech companies to play in the big leagues and make a splash internationally, from venture capitalists to marketing experts.

The Bank Street BIA and others have been beating the drum about an Ottawa casino, citing all the revenues lost each year to the Casino du Lac Leamy in Gatineau. The idea has already proven to be a divisive one, and there is also the little matter of a moratorium on new casinos in the province.

Developer David Butler has grand plans to turn Lynx Stadium into a multipurpose sports and concert facility that could also see a new baseball franchise come to town.

Obviously, there's no shortage of ideas floating around that share one commonality: sites like Lebreton Flats, Lansdowne Park and Lynx Stadium can be put to much better use. With the cities of this province in a constant battle with higher levels of government to address persistent budget woes, we can't afford to leave these prime sites sitting empty. They must be developed to generate more wealth for the local economy, either in terms of helping local employers prosper or boosting the number of tourists who book hotel room nights and spend money in our community. And it doesn't take a PhD in economics to know that if the city is a partner in these initiatives, it can financially benefit in much more direct ways than waiting for the federal or provincial governments to remit a portion of the tax revenues collected in the region.

The trick, of course, is just getting on with it. With Lynx Stadium, that means giving due consideration to a developer with a plan on the table. With Lansdowne, it's not being afraid to wield the aforementioned bulldozer or jackhammer. There is history worth preserving when one looks at assets such as the Aberdeen Pavilion. But in other cases, such as those crumbling southside stands, is there really any point in doing anything other than calling in a demolition crew? If there is broad-based community support for preserving Lansdowne's football field, then just stick with the northside structure and maintain it for school and community play. That still leaves a lot of surrounding real estate to be redeveloped, especially if all that asphalt is replaced by underground parking.

After all, a city with prime central real estate that sits underutilized or undeveloped runs the risk of being perceived as stagnant, hardly the kind of image that attracts tourists or outside investment.