10 Tough Questions with Councillor Brian McHattie

Ward 1 Councillor Brian McHattie shares some thoughts on 10 Tough Questions.

1. Your interest in getting a start on banning plastic bags in Hamilton was met with some skepticism. A cartoon featured in the Hamilton Spectator,put a sharp point on this criticism. . I note that many stores are now selling plastic bags and many people have grasped the concept of declining bags in favour of using their own packaging. Were we short sighted in thisregard?

 It does appear that stores are responding which is positive. I am not aware of any Hamilton studies that measure the uptake of non-plastic bags by shoppers in the city. Hopefully they are using cloth bags etc in a more significant fashion. To me, this is the age-old argument about making change voluntary or mandating it via policy or legislation: my view is that we need both; in practice some folks will only respond when they are legislated to do so.

 2. If you could change one thing about how council operates, what would that be and why?

This may sound minor, but there should be regular shifting of where each Councillor sits in Standing Committee, Committee of the Whole, and Council meetings. You’d be surprised at how the seating arrangement (currently alphabetical) influences Councillors’ comments and decisions on votes. On the other side of that, sitting beside a colleague that one doesn’t usually have much time for allows for better understanding and relationship-building. This sort of rotation could occur every three months for example.


3. What was the most useful criticism you have received as a politician and how did that change you?

I don’t know if this was entirely outward criticism or self-criticism but given my background on environmental and social justice issues, and concern with urban sprawl, early on in my tenure I tended to knee-jerk against pro-development interests, and my responses now are much more balanced (although I’m not sure that all would agree with that). Same goes with a keener focus on economic development, while still being passionate about ecological sustainability.


4. What are the top three issues in your ward and how do they reconcile against the greater interests of Hamilton?

1. Impact of Student Housing Proliferation in Ainslie Wood - Westdale (decreased quality of life, property standards/noise issues, folks abadnonding neighbourhoods leading to student-only areas/loss of balanced, multi-perspective neighbourhoods)

This issue is largely specific to the Ainslie Wood - Westdale (AWW) neighbourhoods around Mac, although it is now filtering into Kirkendall and Strathcona neighbourhoods. The area around Mohawk College portrays similar problems according to Councillor Whitehead. City-wide this affects our relationship with Mac as they have been very unhelpful in assisting with impacts of their large increases in undergraduate student enrolment, this leads to conflict, with students having a poor experience in AWW, making it less likely they'll want to stay in Hamilton, post-graduation.

2. Reducing Car Travel in Favour of Pedestrian and Cycling Improvements

This is a very important issue for many of my constituents and we’ve been working at installing bike lanes (did York Blvd, Dundurn Street coming, along with extending the rail trail, Longwood Rd next). We’ve undertaken a community-based walkability analysis for neighbourhoods in Ainslie Wood Westdale and our City-run neighbourhood master transportation plans have emphasized alternative transportation and implementation of the International Charter on Walking, signed earlier by Mayor Eisenberger. We are very supportive of LRT on King with two-way traffic flow on both King and Main. Hopefully our work can inspire other neighbourhoods.

3. Redevelopment of Brownfield/Greyfield Sites - Intensification
As discussed in the Spec, the former school board building at 220 Dundurn Street has been empty for many years and is really a blight in the neighbourhood. I have been working with our Bylaw department for the past two years to improve property standards, and most importantly we have a site plan approval for a new residential development. Another example of this redevelopment is the former Tim Hortons site at Aberdeen and Dundurn, where a condo development is planned. In these infill examples we’ll need to seek a balance between neighbourhood requirements and our mandate to promote intensification as outlined in the new City Official Plan. This will be a debate on sites across the City so again our work will provide examples for others.

5. If you could change a single decision that was made by council over the course of this term, what would that be and why?
It would be take the original staff advice and recommendations of the Hemson report to protect all of the available industrial land as employment land as required by the Places to Grow Act versus exempting the four-five properties that Council did, paving the way for additional big-box stores, and creating a need to find the lost employment land elsewhere, perhaps leading to a larger sprawl-style business park on important farmland around the airport. Specifically, the decisions to allow big-box developments at 50 Rd and Centennial Parkway are problematic.

6. In this present term, there has been sensational reporting on some of the antics that go on at council. Do you think that good news stories and accomplishments are under-reported?
Vastly under-reported due to the sensational-style reporting style of the media, especially the print media.

7. In some ways, you are a representative for our “environmental conscious”. Are we doing enough on that front and how do you balance environmental responsibility with fiscal constraint?

My view is that the health of the environment in Hamilton is the underpinning for success in our community. In this, I mean that if we don't take action (ie., spend more on transit and other alternative transportation choices to mitigate the impact of climate change and prepare our community for a peak oil and gas scenario) on the larger ecological imperatives such as climate change adaption and long-term prevention; poor air quality; protection of local farmland ensuring the ability to feed Hamiltonians, then the City of Hamilton will not be a place that industries and citizens move to; especially as the economy becomes more focused on knowledge industries requiring highly skilled workers who can choose where they wish to work.

8. Are we doing enough to address the needs of the poor in Hamilton? If we could do one thing differently, what would that be?
I would be so bold to state that we are leading the Province in this respect through the work of many, facilitated by the Roundtable on Poverty Reduction. The Province of Ontario and national and international jurisdictions have made this observation as well. Although we have been active on this area, the key activity we need is to work more on establishment and support for small business as they create most of Hamilton’s jobs.

9. Leadership is an important attribute of moving agendas forward. When embattled in controversial issues, how do you demonstrate leadership?
While I don't always achieve this goal, it is critical to remain calm, cool, and collected and most important, not to make the issues personal, despite the passion we all bring to issues.

10. I think we can all agree that Mayor Eisenberger has a tough job. What advice might you have for the Mayor?
Stay the course: as the term has carried on, Fred has vastly improved his skills as Mayor – a position that is tremendously complex and must be learned on the job as it is significantly different than the Councillor position that Fred held earlier. One piece of advice would be to continue communicating with Councillors on controversial votes, particularly those of special importance to him, towards attempting to reach consensus prior to full-out Committee of Council discussions.

Special thanks to Councillor McHattie  for his contribution to "The Hamiltonian" and for his service to our city.
Visit him at http://www.brianmchattie.ca

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