Tuesday, March 9, 2010

A Promising Sign?

 As reported in The Spec (see full story here) , in 2009, Hamilton improved its non-residential tax base. The gains have largely been attributed to industrial and commercial fronts. Industrial building permits grew in value by 113% in 2009. Commercial permits grew by 37% over the previous year. Relative to other municipalities, a claim has been made that Hamilton’s progress exceeds the norm.


Projects such as The Tim Hortons Coffee roasting plant, the CANMET materials lab and the Mountain Plaza mall were cited as significant contributors. 

Do you see these stats as an indicator that Hamilton is showing signs of promise? To the extent you do, what do you attribute this to?

14 comments:

  1. Michelle HruschkaMar 9, 2010 09:50 AM
    The community needs jobs, I just wish that the city wopuld pass a living wage policy, that would lift those who live in poverty out of poverty.

    Does Tim Hortons use fair trade coffee, I highly doubt it.
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  2. Michelle...that is outside the cities mandate. Wages fall under the province which is having a large increase in the minimum wage at the end of the month
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  3. It's positive news, but let's wait and see if a multi-year pattern emerges before we start congratulating ourselves for turning a corner.
    As Michelle notes, the most important measure of progress is jobs (specifically ones that pay a living wage), and the available data in that area doesn't paint so rosy a picture.
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  4. Michelle HruschkaMar 9, 2010 04:24 PM
    Tom: The city could pass a living wage policy, other communities in the US have done so.

    The minimum wage increase will do little, when all other costs keep increasing and it is a fact that many of the working poor, are accessing the food banks. Never mind the dreaded HST, which will hike costs another 8 per cent.

    In 2006, The Living Wage and Fair Employment Coalition came up with an amount if memory serves me correctly, that a living wage would of been $12.96.

    We have to look at the fact, that the poverty rates here in Hamilton are soaring and that both EI and welfare claims are still rising.

    Is this Tim Hortons plant going to be on a bus route, as many who are low income do not drive, so that would eliminate many from even having the ability to even apply for work.

    Think about it this way, if people are earning living wages, then there would be no need for many of these so called social agencies that we have, imagine the tax savings we would have, as the majority of the agencies rely on funding from the government in order to operate.

    Anyways, in the lecture, The Town with no Poverty, which people were guaranteed a living income back in the 1970ès. it proved, that people just did not sit at home and collect welfare cheques, many of the people used the additioanl dollars to go back to school, it enable mnay young people to complete their educate, it allow for mothers to stay home raising children, instead of day care, hospital visits decreased, injuries and accidents decreased as well as diagnosis of mental illness.
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  5. Michelle...Policy is not law and would be just a waste of councils time to debate when they could be doing more effective city business. At what point do you think a person should take on the responsibility for themselves that they have educated themselves and made themselves fit enough to to get a job earning a "living wage" even up to relocating themselves to other places where jobs are available.
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  6. Michelle HruschkaMar 9, 2010 07:13 PM
    Tom: Let us get one thing straight, ok, not everyone is destined for higher education, it is nearly impossible to get training if you want to learn skilled trade.

    So in your mindset there, you are condemning a certain segment of the population to live in poverty or even dire poverty.

    The point is that many of those who graduate from higher educaton do not make great wages and are afraid to stand on a line and fight for something.

    It can be expensive to move and those who have little may not have the resources to be able to move.

    Many things you take for granted today, were hard won by those workers who stood up and fought back. The capitalists just did not give people things. Wake up there bud, use brain, quit repeating the corporate words and think of the people, the workers, the small business people when they have to compete against places like WALMART.

    Most of the world is capitalist and most of the world is POOR! Something is very wrong sir.

    .
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  7. Okay, I've been reading your rants for months.

    I don't know much, but I know a couple of things with certainty.

    1. If you want to get ahead it involves sacrifice. If you aren't willing to relocate to where the work is, you aren't truly willing to work.

    2. The standards to get into provincial colleges are so low that any one can do it. To be honest, I achieved a whopping 63% in my grade 12 year. Somehow, this warranted entry into Mohawk College's Building Sciences program, where I did a 3 year stint and walked away with dean's honours in the program. I paid my own way, I received no scholarships or bursaries as I am a white male. I took on personal debt to accomplish my task, I also worked while in school to make my way.

    3. A post secondary in no way guarantees you a living wage. My first job in my field after college paid less than your 'living wage' and I had to buy a car and drive to the cesspool that is St Kitts to get it. Two jobs, left for advancement, and 8 years and two cities later I work in Hamilton and make a good salary. It's called busting your a$$, taking risks and getting it done. Not whining and wallowing in your own crapulence crying "whoa is me, i'm so hard done by!"

    4. Should the minimum wage become a living wage then the price of everything will go up and so then the living wage will go up and so will the cost of everything else...it's a circle get it? The only ones who lose are the middle class who have to fund this idealist propaganda. The world ain't perfect and until it is capitalism will reign. We can all see the results of communism is pure corruption and adverse porverty unlike any seen in this glorious country I'm proud to call home. If these books and lectures are real, I would implore you to provide links to verify thier truth but would suggest that something more recent than the 1970's is found as I was barely existant and if i recall correctly my old man, a tradesman made about $1.25/hour back then.

    5. Getting into a skilled trade is not that difficult. Most of my high school friends became tradesmen(or tradespersons), some now work for themselves. Many have moved out west for work.

    6. Timmy Hoho's does not do fair trade coffee. They serve caffinated sludge dredged up from the Randall Reef.

    7. People from this city need to take more pride in it. There are many good things happening here, tossing trash out your window isn't one of them.

    8. We need better politicians in this city. But they don't need to be visible minorities or women. They need to be the most qualified and bright business minds that we can find.

    9. Life what you make of it. Sieze the day.
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  8. It is great to see these new developments in the city creating new jobs. Michelle should it be mandatory that the city only issue building permits to employers who are only building on the bus routes. That would eliminate the new bakery from being built here. When I started working if I didn't catch the first scheduled bus I would be late for work and would call a cab to get me there on time. After a few weeks on the job I was able to arrange a ride with a coworker in return for a contribution towards his gas. To use transportation as a reason not to work is a cop out. I am sure you don't wear blinders and know of many people capable to work but chose not too and others collecting welfare while working under the table jobs. The money these people take out of the system dilutes the funding available to those that are in true need. Wake up bud and see that there are many just sitting back to have everything given to them. Why do you pick on Tim Horton's. Have you not noticed any of the charitable work they do for the Children's hospital and camps for children in need. Mr. Joyce has personally made contributions to this city to improve all our lives. The taxpayers who bear the brunt of welfare costs got to the position they can pay it is though hard work, not sitting at home asking to be baby sat.
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  9. Michelle HruschkaMar 10, 2010 07:31 PM
    Trevor likes Bikes: You seem to be talking down to me but that could be just the way I am reading your words. Yes I know what hard work and sacrifice is, as a post secondary graduate, I have worked several very low paying jobs and I have also worked for some really rotten employers, just to pay the bills.

    But let us look at some of the most marginalized people in our community, those who may have disabilites and who are exploited. I have learned today, that there is a company or maybe a better term would be an organization that should be either shut down or investigated.

    This place is getting employers to pay them $10.00 per hour, in which they place people who are then paid $30.00 for an 8 hour day of work.

    It is the law that any worker should be paid minimum wage, even if they are disabled, they should be ensure that the employer is paying WSIB, so if the worker is injuried they could have access to workers comp. Who is ensuring that Occupational Health and Safety is being enforced.

    If we as a community are not looking out for those who are the most vulnerable, then what does that say about us as a whole.

    I will be sending a message to the councillor in this area of the city. Something is definitely wrong in the state of Denmark.
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  10. Michelle, I have to say don't take IT personal. Guys like TLB, TR and myself who work(ed) hard for a living, have very little compassion for folks who don't. In many ways IT is correct to say, we are masters of our own destiny, EH?

    I do not see an increase in building permits as a promising sign for anything. There are by far many more omens than promising signs for this to mean anything significant. For myself, if all offshore bank tax-havens were to sink to the bottom of the ocean, that would be a promising sign. Or if our governments were to start slashing taxes to the bone, that would be very positive too.

    I give my tithe at church to help the unfortunate and donate clothing once in awhile. I do not appreciate supporting low-lifes by default through taxes and there are a lot of reasons why there aren't enough good paying jobs to be had. There are also many reasons why even those of us fortunate enough to be employed are continually oppressed. One of the biggest reasons of course is greed at the top. How else can you explain things like this.

    The Lord God will look out for the little ones when the big ones sink unto Davey Jones locker. You'll see soon, with the coming planetary rocker. Some call IT wormwood and others planet-X, I'd call IT a boon for rebuilding permits.
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  11. Let's not allow the polar extreme views to corrupt meaningful debate.

    Are there lazy no-good drug abusing "lowlifes" on welfare? Of course, but there are many other people who are simply stuck in a cycle of poverty. The hand-up approach is my favoured approach to dealing with poverty but as Michelle points out there are those that may simply be borderline or unemployable… for many reasons. Taking our P.C. hate off for a minute and being frank, some folks just aren't all that smart and even basic trades may be a challenge for them. What do you do with people that earning a living wage will always be a challenge for? Should they be cursed by DNA to remain in poverty the rest of their lives? Sure, you could just lean very left and start handing out a living wage to people, but the current welfare system would allow for too much abuse of a living wage handout approach. If promised a living wage through the welfare system there are those that will simply accept that and remain dependant on government assistance in perpetuity. Most things in nature take the path of least resistance, many people are no different.

    The system needs to be able to better identify and respond to people who are simply abusing it for the reasons those on the right often like to point out (i.e.," lazy welfare recipients"). Our system does not do this. A hand-up system would identify the people who want to get out of the cycle and help them do so, it would also help identify the people who are going to have difficulties ever earning a living wage and those that have no intention of ever trying to.

    Continued...
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  12. Continued...

    We can't just throw more money at our current system in the hopes of ending poverty, poverty can become a business of its own by doing that. The system needs to be revamped to be focused on education, job training and retraining workers with older less marketable skills. I do not fully support Michelle's idea that entering trades is difficult, there is and will continue to be a shortage in skilled trades. There may be a lack of employers willing to take on apprentices and a lack of spots available in trade schools, but both those problems could be easily fixed with additional government incentives to business and more funding for technical colleges. The bigger problem is a lack of will on the part of young people to enter skilled trades and our secondary school system has played a big part of lowering the perceived importance of trades. The largest percentage of millionaires in America are trades people, not doctors or lawyers, trades people, yet our education system in this country does everything it can to prop up our profit driven university system as if we really need more 21 year olds with general BAs.

    The real solution to solving the poverty problem is education. A better, more flexible, secondary school system would reduce the dropout rate, a post secondary education system designed to get graduates into long term modern jobs would create a better base of human resources for companies to tap into which attracts business. Here's a basic example, if we want to maintain any competitive advantage in global manufacturing we need to automate our manufacturing facilities. For decades the signs have been there to indicate we would no longer be able to compete globally with foreign manufacturing facilities by relying on unskilled manual labour. But instead of modernizing our manufacturing system, governments on both sides of the border have propped up an outdated and unsustainable industry for decades and it has now cost many people their jobs and taxpayers billions of dollars, contributing to our poverty problem not helping it. We should be educating and training robotics engineers, PLC and automation system technicians, etc… Converting the current unskilled and unsustainable workforce (i.e., the North American assembly line worker) into an educated and highly skilled workforce ready to compete in the global marketplace. We should be making attempts to steer those kids in high school who the traditional "3-Rs" type of classroom education doesn't suit into alternative skills development and co-op based programs, but those programs often do not exist.

    So while I do agree with Michelle that poverty has more to do with the failings of government (although perhaps for different reasons than she does) than the natural occurrence of lazy "lowlifes", I also agree with Tom and Trevor that just throwing more money at the current system is not the answer and there does need to be a sense of personal responsibility to all of this.

    Those that can't maintain a living wage due to physical or mental limitations should be supported at a level to ensure dignity and pride. I also have no problem with the notion that those people who simply do not want to be active contributing members of society should receive no support from society. Unfortunately the problem then becomes how do you deal with and support the children born in to those situations??? But that is another debate.
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  13. Michelle HruschkaMar 18, 2010 07:33 PM
    Kiely: Have you checked into the whole second career thingy. I know a worker who lost their job due to occupational disease and I advised them to go check things out and try to get into a skilled trade program. Nope, this was not an option, period. In my mind I thought it would be a great opportunity for this worker to become say an electricaian or something along those lines, to be able to have a fairly good paying job to be able to support the family.

    While I agree that workers should be trained in skilled trades, the system makes almost impossible for workers who want to learn to able to do so. They mostly push people into things like PSW.

    Or how those who are on social assistance who want to go to school but find it very difficult, this is especially true for those who have children. Once you get OSAP, you are cut off all benefits which can make things extremely difficult if your child gets sick. You have to be able to budget for almost all contigencies, which in most cases people do not do or have the ability to do so.

    They system also pushes people into dead end programs that basically do not lead anywhere. I know someone who has FAS and went to school for 4 years, who thought they were working toward a high school diploma, Wrong again.

    Also there are many who do want to learn how to read better, to better literacy, math skills but would need specialized training, as many are older and would need one on one involvement with an educator.

    I do not agree with your ideology that we should give up on those who are deemed as the worst, as I heard a true life story where someone who was addicted to crack, who said themselves they were vey nasty. This person was now clean and seemed very happy with their life and productive member of the community.

    The system does not ask you want you need, they tell you what you need, which could be two very different things.
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  14. "I do not agree with your ideology that we should give up on those who are deemed as the worst, as I heard a true life story where someone who was addicted to crack, who said themselves they were very nasty. This person was now clean and seemed very happy with their life and productive member of the community." - Michelle

    Sure Michelle, but that person obviously made the decision to change their life, I never said you "give up on" those people. I said you don't throw taxpayers' money at people who are unwilling to be active members of society. That doesn't mean you give up on people addicted to drugs, it means you don't continue to give taxpayers' money to people who refuse to change. If a drug addict is seeking a hand up, the assistance they receive should be contingent on attending drug counseling programs and making progress in that program. If they don't attend or do not make the necessary changes in their life to become an active member of society (i.e., they remain hopeless addicts) should we simply continue to provide those people a living wage? I would say no. Perhaps we also need to examine why so many people are drug addicts in a society where drugs are supposedly prohibited??? But again that's another debate.

    The rest of your post highlights much of what I am saying. The training and retraining programs offered by the government are often off base. They look good for retraining statistics but that's about it. They rarely achieve what they should be setting out to do... finding people long term meaningful employment. I also agree with your point about telling people what they want instead of asking what they need. That can lead to many "square peg in round hole" type problems. The politics of poverty is often dirty politics with easy political points won on the right by being tough on welfare recipients, when the pendulum swings the other way well meaning but often half baked programs are rolled out to much fanfare only to fade away with nary a whisper, giving ammo once again to the opposite end of the political spectrum who are more than eager to point out the waste of money.

    An unbiased and non-partisan approach to dealing with poverty based on proven results not ideologies needs to be the starting point. But in this age of polar political extremes, politicians working harder to maintain power by earning cheap political points rather than delivering results and the general hardening of our societal views on things like poverty it is difficult to get traction where it is needed.
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