The article is found here Hamilton's Dead. Or is it?
Here's some small excerpts, but please read the entire article to get the whole context for it. "The image of Hamilton as a grime-covered palooka destined for defeat has now hardened into something self-perpetuating."
"Stop mourning the death of Steeltown, and start fostering the birth of something new."
What do you think of the article? Fair? Balanced? What part of it do you agree or disagree with and why.
(Thanks to a friend for the tip about this article ;-))
Hamilton is dead as a door nail. No Future whatsoever. Soon it will be ghosttown Canada.
ReplyDeleteThe strengh of Hamilton will always be the people, not the politicians elected to represent them. If anything, that's where changes need to be made, at the ballot box.
ReplyDeleteThis should be a good topic to save face. Many important
ReplyDeletepimples were raised but this one really popped my zit.
I must confess IT is difficult reading about
Jeremy Freidburger's receipt of $150,000
from the city to renovate a former
industrial building with his
partner Spiro, knowing
he has yet to pay
his plumber
FOR...
all those nice new
studios with flush toilets
and slop sinks but like Hugh Hicks
recalls, "other people told us, 'Stay away.
Hard city to work in.'" And with wannabe developers
like Spiro that are slow to no pay, I can understand why.
The novella concludes with this suggestion to improve our city:
"Deal with the brownfields, clean up the downtown. Make it even
easier for art and culture to prosper here. Stop mourning the death
of Steeltown, and start fostering the birth of something new."
And to that I will add, we had better pay the midwives
who are ready, willing and able to make IT all happen.
And we all know how far $600, I mean $500 bucks an
hour will take us into the future with integrity... NOT!
Call me a vexatious litigant or a
really forceful ten buck citizen,
just don't call me, if you're Spiro.
As FOR resurrecting the dead:
http://praybig.ca/
I have only read the article once so far but it appears to be very good ... accurate and insightful.
ReplyDeleteThree initial reactions.
1. The audacity of Concillor Ferguson crowing that WE got the Horton's operation "into MY ward and MY community." Out of respect for the concerns that blogs on this site be temperate, I'll restrain from stating the characterisations that come to mind about this individual ... for the moment, I'll just say that it is amazing that such a limited person, with such a narrow parochial attitude has mayoraly ambitions. Scary.
2. I agree with Marvin Ryder's assessment of the amalgamation exercise as being a failure in that the way the wards were drawn up "merely entrenched parochialism." There were many other problems created, or worsened, by the poorly managed amalgamation effort, and Ryder deserves a lot of the blame for them.
3. I would say that Trevor Cole's conclusions in the last paragraph are bang on. Excellent piece of analysis by that writer.
MAW. Your right. Clean house at the ballot box. I am tired of these clowns wasting my money on all of thier carp.
ReplyDeleteElvis P
Hi WRCU2 et al
ReplyDeleteJeremy here form the ICCA. I wanted to respond to your comments personally.
(1) Before posting information on a public blog I would suggest verifying your facts - but I'll chalk that up to anger - and justified anger at that.
(2) The $150K did not go to the ICCA, me or Spiro. The money is in the hands of the City which has engaged a team of consultants chosen by a jury to guide the process on a new project, not any of Spiros or the ICCAs current buildings.
(3) I hear ya on being owed money by developers. We are a small non-profit with 1.5 paid employees. We work extremely hard to acheive our goals - yet we don't get treated fairly always either. Spiro also owes us a serious chuck of money and we've been challenged as an organization to keep the boat a float as he sorts out his mortgage. I personally went without pay for sometime in order to keep my other staff paid and bills on time while we await payment from Spiro.
The ICCA has always been prompt in paying it's bills to service providers, contractors we engage, etc.
(4) If you would like to contact me personally I'd love to know more about the nature of your claim and to assist in what ever way I can to get your bill paid.
Now you can understand, I hope, that we have learned first-hand that it's a very difficult city to work in as well. We start our developments with all of the best intentions - but they all require partnerships. Sometimes partners don't deliver.
Again, please do contact me personally so I can assist in your issue.
Jeremy
905-548-0111
I read the article a number of times and thought it was a good assessment of the state of the city.
ReplyDeleteAs for Marvin Ryder's comments, I couldn't help but laugh, since he is responsible for the political problems that exist in this city. His inability to make any hard decisions or maybe I should say his unwillingness to offend the suburbanites has given the former suburbs an inordinate say is this cities affairs.
It's time to change the ward boundries and even out the numbers in each ward. If that means the city gets more and the suburbs get less representation then so be it.
The other policy that has to go is area rating. We are all part of the same city now. It's an issue of fairness.
I think that the writer had some good points, what is missing is the labour history of this community.
ReplyDeleteIn the labour movement, Hamilton had many firsts, however, in recent times many workers have fallen by the wayside.
The growth of service sector jobs, precarious or temp work that does not pay living wages, do not offer benefits, they do not even have pensions, all these combined put a strain on the already overloaded social services. Social servies does its best to penalize those trying to make the transition to work. The current system is akin to the workhouses of the Victorian era.
The writer focuses on those who are educated but what those who are not, are they to live in dire poverty? What about those workers like the steel workers who had good paying jobs with benefits and pensions, are they to work for only minimum wage jobs as I have previously mentioned, struggling to hang on to what they have?
The problem as I see things, is that we have an elite bunch, who hang with other elite bunches of people who are so far above the rest of us, running things. This city is made up of more of those that struggle and work then the few rich elite. Maybe that what is needed is to organize the masses into one big voice, so that their concerns will be heard and not ignored.
Gee if only we could fire up the people like in the Stelco strike of 1946, do you think maybe then, those who are running things would take notice of those that struggle?
Mahesh poignantly wrote:
ReplyDelete"Not to mention the resulting financial trauma caused a local
plumber/poet who came to believe in the creative class. But hey,
all that is part of the everyday evolutionary process of a city
in transition – and really not something to write home about,
let alone broadcast it to a national audience!"
I'm glad you got the gist of IT, but remember,
I'm the ten buck citizen. My boss is a swell
guy and his workers always get paid. I'm
just tired of hearing that the wrangler
won't even answer his phone. And as for
broadcasting to a national audience,
this is the world wide web my friend,
do not diminish the scope of the triple double you.
Thanks for sharing Mahesh.
Are we sure we can’t meet at the Old Mill again?
Perhaps I can arrange for us to be picked up in
a 1966 Studebaker Cruiser, the last automobile
ever manufactured in Hamilton, Ontario. That
would be a wonderful trip down memory lane.
Afterwards, we'll play a round of golf then
meet RJ down at the yacht club for a night cap.
You see, the creative class isn't the problem.
The problem has always been the monied class.
Jeremy is correct that Spiro cannot get the
mortgage for his property because the greedy
banksters won't budge. The simple fact is I
like Spiro and I would rather bomb around town
in his Jeep getting stuck in the mud than going
through the old mill with churlish stud e-bankers.
Bless you Jeremy, we'll talk soon.
funny i just moved here from toronto ... hamilton is not dead, in fact it seems to following right along in the Pittsburgh model where new industries are replacing the old. I for instance to programming for a customer base almost entirely out side of canada I have no need to pay the crazy rent i was paying in TO. Pittsburgh also has a thriving health sciences industry ... Hamilton has a lot going for it, and as one person ( a life long resident ) said to me .. one of the best things is the view Torontonians get as they drive to Niagara Falls , if they came in via the 403 they would all be here.
ReplyDeleteAs a cyclist I can tell you the world chamionships a few years ago where considered to be a huge success ( internationally) , and the potential of velodrome for the pan am game actually has me excited
The velodrome would be the only one in ontario ( i think delhi is closed forgive me if im worng) and those who scoff a velodrome as a waste 2 little known fact. Maple leaf garden was built for 2 things 1 hockey , 2 Six day track races. Secondly the potential for 'cycle tourism' is quite large with a velodrome and day trips to Niagara easily doable ...
To those who say what about all those good industrial jobs, all areas of north america that concentrated on heavy industry have been suffering for 25 years. This a continental fact not a Hamilton fact.
and my final point ... the next person who wants to open a big box store in the 'burbs' ( which i presume wiinoa is ) should be forced to open one downtown or not get the approval .. look a dufferin mall in toronto anchored by a Walmart ... was NO GO zone for a long time ... it is now the 'new' yorkdale mall.
Hi MAW and Jeremy
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I am not entirely comfortable having folks discuss details or motgages, debts owed etc. on a public blog and with information concerning other people.
While this blog assumes no liability whatsoever for anything posted, I would like to suggest that you take that part of the discussion offline.
Thanks for your contributuions to this blog and I am looking forward to seeing your views expressed here. You are welcome here. Just thought I should weigh in with some friendly advice.
Cal
Hi Cal
ReplyDeleteI completely agree but your blog 'approval' process seemed to allow the first personal jab through - so I had to respond in a public.
Jeremy
Jeremy:
ReplyDeleteMy blog approval process does not address "first jabs". The blog policy statement is clear. Beyond that, the spirit of the blog is respectful discourse which also allows for pointed criticism.
I don't profess to police all posts to that degree of scrutiny and instead, hope that people self govern.
In this case, I was providing friendly advice, simply suggesting that if discussions are going to be had about debt, mortgages and the like, that it might be best to have those discussions offline in a private forum.
Cal
I'm okay with with what Cal said, so long as we
ReplyDeleteunderstand the validity of what just transpired.
Here we have two men supporting the arts and it
was a pleasure for me to work with the studio
contractor. He was kind enough to provide us
with slurpees on those sweat lingering summer
days. The point is that there is a weak link
in economic recovery and rebranding this city
and that is getting paid to do the work.
It is very pertinent to this discussion
that a fair degree of angst is prevalent
among hard working people who invest in
this city and cannot get loans to make
improvements, knowing the Bank of Ca-
nada is making funds available for
one quarter of one percent. Mean-
while our local lenders demand
50% down on a mortgage for a
completely renovated, fully
occupied and formerly decrepit indust-
real property utterly devoid of risk.
I'm sorry guys. Spiro knows who I am
and how to get in touch. If he wants
to drag me through the mud, I'm okay
with that too.