"Happy Talk" ?

Having read The Spectator’s coverage of a recent breakfast panel discussion in which Mayor Eisenberger and others discussed the challenges facing Hamilton, I am beginning to wonder about the value added, from such discussions. You may recall that in a recent interview in The Hamiltonian, Harry Stinson said:

It is far easier to sit on a Committee or Task Force or go to “Summits” (featuring speakers from out of town) or organize more bloody golf tournaments…. then give each other pretentious awards for all they have done for the community. (Of course, a big banquet is required for this process, attended by the usual suspects giving the same self-righteous speeches).

I wasn’t at the breakfast panel meeting but from what has been reported in The Spec (see story here), it seems like it may have been more “happy talk”, if it weren’t for a pointed question posed by Doug Barber.

"I came here to find out if Hamilton is winning or losing," said the co-founder and former CEO of Gennum Corporation, who's also an engineering professor at McMaster University."I heard a lot of cheerleading and that people are playing well together as a team but I'm disappointed that I don't know how we're doing. We're either winning, losing or treading water, but I don't know."

This appears to have led to a downward spiral to the conversation. Perhaps Mr. Barber’s question may have been too simplistic but it did appear to bring things into perspective. When I question the value added of these discussions, I think that walking away feeling deflated is as much destructive as the “happy talk” syndrome that Harry seems to have described .

I think it would be better for the Mayor to select a topic(s) and then charge an individual(s) to lead a solution to it. For example: Come back and present a plan as to how we can solve graffiti in our city ( I picked this because it is fairly tangible- there are many things to pick from). The person would then have to formulate a plan, engage support, come back and present it, validate it and then, most importantly, execute it with attached outcome measures and in a declared timeline.

What do people think?

Poll Results and Polls

A couple of online polls recently featured in The Hamiltonian, have now closed. The results suggest the following:

There seems to be mixed reaction around whether we should continue our lawsuit against the Federal government with respect to the Redhill.

Opinion was almost split down the middle 47% saying we should continue and the balance saying we should drop it. I suspect that those opposed with proceeding are likely considering the potential ballooning costs to taxpayers and the length of time it may take to get this resolved, without any assurance of success.

The question of whether Councillors should interact with citizens via blogs, such as this one, was not as divided. Over 80% of those who took the poll said that blogs are legitimate vehicles for Councillors to engage with citizens.

A word or two about polls featured in The Hamiltonian

1. Poll voting is available to anyone who frequents this site. The results are not scientific and cannot be proclaimed as a representative sample of any sort, and I have never made that claim anywhere.

At the same time, the polls represent the views of  Hamiltonians and I believe that every Hamiltonian’s opinion is worthy of consideration. It is interesting to collate the degree of resonance in different ways. These ways may include: feedback from talk radio, sentiments expressed by citizens in print media, other blogs, television, other internet sources etc. Those correlations do not amount to statistical reliability, but can be helpful indicators, if not, interesting. Here is a new example, as heard on 820 Talk click here to listen  (kudos to the good people at 820 Talk and CHML for their interest)

2. To those members of council who have challenged me by way of emails, with respect to the assessment of The Mayor and Council , and the corresponding results, I offer the following:

a) to those who suggested the results are not reliable, see #1 above

b) To those who have inferred that I somehow “hid” the amount of votes tallied, please know that each poll on this blog reports, in real time, the results and number of votes tallied, along with how much time remains in the poll (right down to the minute and second), all the while, displaying the tally of votes.  The information was readily available in real time over the entire duration of the poll being up and until such time afterwards, that  I removed it to make room for other polls or text. Respectfully, your allegation is a function of you or your staff not paying attention to the poll.

Sincerely,

Cal

Snow Angels Wanted

The Snow Angels program is an important one. Essentially, it provides assistance to the elderly and persons living with a disability, by deploying volunteers to clear snow off their sidewalks.

The problem is that there does not appear to be enough volunteer capacity to justify the $100,000.00 expenditure. The Spec reports that last year, only 172 households were able to receive this service which translates to $581.40 per household. See full story here

Despite that, the program has been renewed with a plan to increase the volunteer base to make the program more viable and effective.

Councillor Bernie Morelli, stressed the Snow Angels program will become especially important in the coming years as our population ages. He added, "We need to challenge ourselves to recognize that this is a major need." In my view, kudos to Councillor Morelli !

Do you believe the program is worth saving? If anyone knows how one would go about signing up to be a volunteer snow angel, can you post the details on this blog? It would be a good opportunity to help strengthen the volunteer base.

10 Tough Questions with Mayor Fred Eisenberger

When I approached Mayor Eisenberger to appear as a featured guest on 10 Tough Questions, he readily accepted. The Mayor elected to answer all 11 questions I put to him. So here is 10 + Tough Questions with Mayor Eisenberger.

1. Looking back on the history of Hamilton, what community or political leader do you most admire? What is it about him or her that has captured your admiration?

Victor Copps was seen as a man of the people. He was a leader with an aspiration and a vision for this city and understood that opportunity and prosperity should include all people and not just a few! If there is one thing that is clear from my time as Mayor is that we need to stand up for our city internally and externally, nothing good will come from running our city down and nothing but good will come from building it up.

2. What is the most useful piece of criticism you received as Mayor of Hamilton and how has that changed you?

Be strategic was what I was told. It is very easy to get distracted in this position and end up managing the day to day. That is why early on in my mandate, I launched my vision called NEXT Hamilton with five strategic areas of focus:

1. Responsible Government
2. Economic Development
3. Rapid Transit
4. Immigration
5. Environmental Sustainability

3. How would you characterize your brand of leadership? Do you think it's working? If you believe it is working, what are indicators that demonstrate that it is?

I think the proof of the effectiveness of my leadership is the results on the ground whether it be the measures concerning integrity, the boost in economic development, our progress on rapid transit, all of these measures started in an environment that had wide gaps in opinion and we were able to establish some consensus moving forward.

I have often described my brand of leadership as the 3cs Collaboration, Cooperation, and Consensus. I have always believed it is better to attempt to bring people into the development of an issue or solution, rather than isolate groups or people and ram something through.

4. You have a difficult role as Mayor. I imagine you receive a great deal of advice from many sources. Some have speculated that you can be stubborn at times and not be as receptive to advice. True? How do you process advice and how much does it influence your position on issues?

I greatly value all the advice I receive and I keep an open mind before making my final decision. I have my principles that ground me, my oath of office as Mayor, and the collectively developed vision and strategic plan to guide me. I believe in process and consultation and am adamant that good public policy can not be created on the fly.

As an example of how I balance priorities and make a difficult decision, I would refer you to the recent Winona Walmart decision: http://mayorfred.ca/posts/view/147

5. During your campaign, your radio ad stated in part “It’s time to give City Hall back to the people”. What did you mean by that and how has this theme developed in your administration?

What I meant - was essentially:

As a City we need to do a better job of engaging Hamiltonians.

That’s why we initiated a budget survey, created a Mayor for A Day program for youth, held open houses at all of the municipal service centers in the former municipalities, even polled people on issues before council and created a citizen’s economic development advisory committee.

I have been an advocate for new innovative methods and technology to enhance our public consultation process. As a City, we need to tap into the creativity of all our citizens
I wanted to restore public confidence in City Hall and refused any corporate or union donations. There is all too often the unfortunate impression that special interests have an inside track to city hall.

6. It was clear that there has been friction between yourself and some councillors, and between councillors. That dynamic continues to play out to some extent. What advice would you have to councillors in terms of promoting a greater degree of alignment, and to the extent that there continues to be some friction, what part of that do you own? What changes are you prepared to make?

I would differentiate between friction and healthy debate. In a functioning City Council, there is always going to be healthy debate especially when there are diverse views, representing different areas of the city.

I would say the vast majority of votes are in fact unanimous - they tend to be lower profile issues that the media tend not to report on. Even on the high profile issues, where there tends to be more debate, we still have examples of Council consensus - look at the votes on the Pan Am Games, Economic Development and the Integrity Commissioner. Also, at Council, I instituted a rotating chair system for the COW portion of the agenda which gives everyone a chance to chair a portion of City Council.

7. Hamilton offers many strategic and geographical advantages, as a city to invest in and to live in. How can we further boost our ability to leverage these features?

We are fortunate to have many advantages over other cities and we have been building on them.

• We are in the middle of the Green belt with rich agricultural production, a $1B agri-business and a “buy local” initiative to support local farmers and provide healthy food for citizens and create a sustainable city region.
• As a City we continue to transition to a post-industrial and more diversified economy.
• Creative entrepreneurs and young artists are attracted to our city for its affordable creative spaces and growing artistic community. This is generating investment to our city and will contribute to the revival of the downtown, waterfront and older industrial areas.
• We also have a significant and important port capacity, an airport whose major utility is the movement of goods around the country and the world. We sit at the crossroads of rail infrastructure and highway truck movements between major border crossings in Niagara and Windsor all of which is the basis of a multi-modal ship, truck, air and rail (STAR) infrastructure we can capitalize on.
• We have world class educational institutions, incredible top notch health care research and treatment facilities, a high quality of life and a growing cultural diversity all contributing to our vitality and vibrancy.
• To further boost these efforts we need to build our reputation as one of the most forward thinking communities. And we are doing that and others are taking notice:
• In its April ranking of North American cities of the future, FDI Magazine, from the Financial Times Group, ranked Hamilton third among large cities in terms of quality of life.
• The Economic Developers Council of Ontario recognized us last year as the most “investment ready” municipality in Ontario.
• Site Selection Magazine, has just ranked Hamilton among the Top Ten Canadian Metros when it comes to attracting new projects and expansions.

8. If you could take back one decision that you made or supported what would that be and why?

There may have been instances in which I wished our debate was more civilized, but I am confident with the decisions I have made as Mayor.

9. One distinct feature of your campaign was to not accept union or corporate donations. Why did you take this position and why was it important to you?

I took this position to give people the confidence that I am working in the best interests of the city and its people and not in the best interest of any special interest group.

10. Beyond the perceptions that some might have in terms of such contributions having the potential to influence councilors, do you dismiss the possibility that those perceptions can be founded on some degree of reality?

I have no doubt that the majority of special interest campaign contributions are intended to influence.
At the municipal level, the concentration of campaign contributions from a single set of interests is extraordinary and the imbalance is systemic. In the 2006 Municipal election nearly half of the money raised by Hamilton candidates came from corporations or trade unions. Of that 77% of the corporate donations and 62% of Union contributions, went to incumbents.

In addition, individuals who own a business or businesses or an individual who heads a union or is involved with one has multiple opportunities to contribute to election campaigns through both their business and personal contributions. Regular citizens do not have the same opportunity. It is about a level playing field for all Hamiltonians

I believe when one source of campaign funding dominates municipal campaigns - and is consistently shown to favour incumbents over other candidates, then there is a need to review the rules. With public confidence in elected officials and democratic institutions in decline, it is incumbent on us to explore every measure to enhance the integrity of the political process.

11. At the end of this term, what mark would you hope to have made as Mayor?

At the end of this term, I would like City Hall to more accountable, open and transparent. Issues like: the Integrity Commissioner, a Council Code of Conduct and campaign finance reform are all part of this.
 In addition, I hope that when Hamiltonians look around, they feel a sense of momentum; that the community is moving in the more progressive direction they want. That they can visualize the NEXT Hamilton – an evolving economy, a vibrant arts sector, a rapid transit plan worthy of a 21st century city, a beautiful waterfront, and a greener more environmentally aware city.

Special thanks to Mayor Eisenberger for his service to Hamilton. Your comments on the Mayor's interview are welcome.

Kudos to Mayor Eisenberger and Chris Murray

I think the Mayor and City Manager Chris Murray got this right. Kudos to them for getting out there. This story ran in the Spec September 30, 2009. I thought it was worth mentioning, See it here

10 Tough Questions with Yves Dubeau

Yves Dubeau is a retired business owner (1990) from a national distributor of scientific instrumentation. Also retired (2003) from Scientific Strategic Marketing (President), consulting firm helping Canadian manufacturers setting up distribution networks world wide. He is an engaged Hamiltonian with, in my view, balanced and useful feedback on Hamilton issues. Here is 10 Tough Questions with Yves.

1. It can be rather easy to lay the blame for all of Hamilton’s problems at the feet of city council and the Mayor. How much responsibility ought to be attributed to council and the Mayor. Please explain.

I agree with you that it would be simplistic to dump all of Hamilton’s problems on the existing council and the Mayor. However council has to take responsibility, period.

As the existing management team elected , only they are in a position of power and authority to institute, enact or reverse past financial decisions that were made by council that could prove to be detrimental to the city. I find that any organization which is unable to re-visit those decisions (because of present changes) is a serious management flaw by any management team.


2. Having a history in business, in the private sector, what can the city learn from the private sector, in terms of how it is run?

Within the present electoral system it is difficult to mimic the private sector and adopt what works well for the private sector into the public sector. In the private sector the management team works hand in hand to the common goal of the corporation. These common goals are set in a mission statement which is derived by the management team, owners and stakeholders. Once the mission statement is formulated, the next step would be to create a business plan which would consist of measurable goals.

From the above example of a business model, our present electoral system does not permit easy adoption of common goals amongst elected councillors. There are some cities in Canada who have political parties at the municipal levels and at election time a slate of candidates present themselves under a political party banner. In the Toronto Star on the weekend there was an article regarding the city of Toronto council. A professor of political science attributes the disfunctionality of city councils due to the lack of discipline and command structure which is part of political parties. There is nobody holding individuals to a higher standard of behaviour ( good rationale for Integrity commissioner!). Instead of having a management team working in unison we have 16 councillors and 1 mayor, a collection of individuals or single-member parties , each with their own agendas. In the private sector a major part of performance is accountability. Currently our present system favours incumbents and that conveys huge electoral advantages. At election time the electorate forgets where our councillors stood on municipal issues. Now if we had party representation we, the electorate, could bestow accountability of failure or success to a party and as such vote accordingly. That is why there is more turnover of candidates at the provincial and federal elections. I think the city of Toronto is partly there with David Miller as an NDP mayor and his inner circle ruling the city.

3. Who do you think the most effective city councillor is, and why have you chosen that person?

This is somewhat of an unfair question for all other councillors than my own councillor. I live in Ward 2 which is represented by Bob Bratina and as such I pay more attention to Bob’s successes and antics. Bob is hard working in representing his electorate as much as his fellow councilpersons. Bob being my councillor means that I am frequently in touch having an email relationship. I found Bob to be shy or very humble in enumerating his successes for the city’s downtown, his projects have a long life cycle and as such not so obvious to most of us. In the last 5-7 years about 124 million in new or renovated real estate was added in Ward 2. The Downtown Core had a net increase of 1.2 million dollars in taxes as a result.

4. What advice do you have for Mayor Eisenberger, for the remaining portion of the present term?

That he stays out of trouble! Mayor Fred had a rosy goal of managing council with consensus, this will not happen with the group of people involve. They have tried group building sessions at a great cost to the city without any positive results.

5. What is the best decision made by council, this term and why?

Difficult to answer because most hard decisions appear to be often deferred to consultants or staff. I have to acknowledge the most recently made decision to help the people flooded without bankrupting the city is one of the good ones. The city of Ottawa also had a very similar flooding event and they were paying attention at what Hamilton council was doing.

6. Recently, there was an online poll on The Hamiltonian, gauging the effectiveness of the Mayor and Council, as well as their effectiveness in issues of stewardship, value for tax dollars and political climate. The results appear to be rather dire. While unscientific in nature, do you think these poll results resonate?

They might be unscientific in not providing a large sample base but they truly show how people feel. How will this translate on election day? Probably no major swing in our elected officials due to the lack of options, we will have a very low voter turnout. Our elected officials will not be personally affected by the lack of support or not having a mandate, this is an $80,000 plus job for them. Again I will state the need for an electoral system change.

7. What does Hamilton have to do to improve its image? If you had a 2 million dollar budget, how would you approach this task?

The entrances to the city offers different views, the most common one shown is a view of the city from the Skyway bridge showing our industrial landscape in the fore ground, with smoke stalks bellowing their effluent and showing nothing else. Now if you enter the city from York Boulevard (eastbound) what you see in the fore plan is beautiful unspoiled nature on both sides of the bridge and in the background the steel mills. To me this scenery is as good and enchanting as any other cities that I have visited worldwide. Also, I might add that the view offered from York blvd. is more representative of what Hamilton is today, an equal balance of industrial to non industrial economy. The point that I want to make is that the main subject is the city of Hamilton, but what do you want to accentuate? I am a new comer to Hamilton, originating from Ottawa and residing in Oakville and Burlington before coming to Hamilton, and I am totally enamoured by what Hamilton has to offer. My marketing campaign would have the main theme of Hamilton being a” destination for a family to live and thrive” especially with the affordable housing that we currently have. Any company that would want to locate in Hamilton will look at what the city has to offer to their employees and their families.

8. Do you think Hamilton can turn itself around over the course of the next 5 years? Why, or why not?

Absolutely, but not in the old style economy. Hamilton depended too long on the steel mills and nothing else. The analogy for me is akin to sitting on a one legged stool and doing all types of acrobatics to stay seated. Many cities have transformed itself most notably a city in the news lately that hosted the G20 meeting, Pittsburgh, the host city.

Pittsburgh endured the same economic fluctuations as Hamilton did over and above the layoffs from the mills. Our local media drew parallels to our city, we have the same to offer in terms of waterfront and proximity to highways and the south west Ontario transport corridor. When the latest layoffs occurred in Hamilton, it was like the end of the world, as we know nothing like that happened. We have to get out of this mindset regarding our steel industry and start looking for our second and third stool leg to sit on. During my travels in Europe and visiting potential suppliers for high technology scientific instrumentation often if not all the time these companies were located in major cities where important universities were established ( not unlike University of Waterloo). The new industrial park from McMaster is a great start and we should see a major input of university off shoots providing that all other conditions are there for a company to flourish. The city should look for base hits versus grand slams in terms of having companies locate to Hamilton. City council should stay out of the picture in order not to introduce political interferences in the processes.

9. What do you make of the length of time it is taking to hire an Integrity Commissioner?

The length of time that is taken to fill this position to me indicates the lack of seriousness in wanting the job to be staffed. The Integrity Commissioner’s job would be to have council accountable to the commissioner. Look at the make-up of our city council and you can judge for yourself and see who would want to be accountable. You can barely see a degree of civility towards Mayor Fred. They set the bar so high for candidates as if council’s issues to be solved required Godlike qualities, a dose of reality made them change candidate’s background to widen the search. I still wonder if the resources dedicated (budget) is realistic, if I remember correctly the budget was $100,000 and the last two issues addressed by our interim Integrity Commissioner already surpassed that budget. I believe that they will drag the staffing as long as they can.

10. Do we have the right leadership in our city, for the period we find ourselves in? Why, Why not?

I think that we will survive until the next election without having serious harm done. Our existing leader is not a risk taker nor does he have the support of council which makes him harmless.

Thanks to Yves for his insights and his interest in Hamilton.

Puzzled

Special thanks to CY for submitting a crossword puzzle featuring Hamilton City Council. Have fun with it.

Guide- Insert last names of city councillors or the Mayor. No first names. Scroll down page to see the questions.

Here it is

If anyone has an innovative idea for The Hamiltonian, please email us.

Edit: I just noticed that the puzzle isn't perfect because two councillors are repeated. But it's still fun!

To Litigate or Not to Litigate

As you may be aware, the city is litigating against the Federal Government over the RedHill Expressway project. A report on the status of this matter has been overdue for several months now. C.A.T.C.H. reports that thus far, the cost of the legal action has cost the taxpayer $243,224.00.

In essence, the suit alleges that four former Federal Cabinet Ministers and 65 federal employees conspired to block or delay the construction of the Redhill, via an environmental assessment, which was subsequently stopped by a April 2001 court decision.

In early 2008, council voted to lift the cap of this legal expenditure, which was previously set at $450,000.00, therby presumably, leaving an open ended potential expenditure.

Clr Clark, for one, has expressed concern over the amount of time the status report has remained overdue.

I suspect this case is somewhat unprecedented, given that it is one level of government suing another.

I realize that this "horse is out of the barn" but, do you think it's too risky? Is it still worth pursuing? Take the poll on the right of this blog, and provide additional comments here.

Special thanks to the good people at C.A.T.C.H. for their stellar reports.

More than meets the eye, or eyesore?

Each day, on my bus ride back into Hamilton from Toronto, I pass by city hall and Hamilton Place.  As I look to my left while traveling eastbound on Main St., I am always struck by how unattractive the area depicted in the picture to the left is. It's obviously very much exposed to those coming into our city, and thus it contributes towards the impression of our city. Not only is the area primarily concrete, which comes across as rather cold, but it features this rusted out scuplture of sorts. (see right above the Hamilton Muncipal Parking System, sign) .

I don't know what the history of this art piece is, and far be it from me to offend anything it might represent, but I can't help but observe that it has become something of an eye sore. Its rusted veneer and different coloured rust spots, doesn't really present well.

Does anyone know the history of this? Does anyone think it still looks good? Should it be removed? Does anyone else think it does not bode well?