Wednesday, September 1st,
2010
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Larry Di Ianni
Calls for a Moratorium on West Harbour
Land
City Continues
to Pay Above Market Value for Property
“Given that Council voted to abandon
the West
Harbour
With the site not yet confirmed, the
city faces uncertain costs pertaining to the development of a stadium at another
site. It is irresponsible to continue spending taxpayers’ dollars to purchase
lands above market value at the West Harbour
“It’s time for Mayor Eisenberger to
finally demonstrate sound financial leadership and do the right thing for
Hamilton
The Hamiltonian does not endorse or counter any candidate running in the municiple election. We are nuetral. We operate in a democratic context where free speech is valued. Our focus is to engage Hamiltonians in dialogue with one another on matters concerning our great city. We encourage all Hamiltonians to vote. To get to know other candidates who have registered, click here. For more information or to be a guest here, please email adminhamiltonian@cogeco.ca.
The Hamiltonian does not endorse or counter any candidate running in the municiple election. We are nuetral. We operate in a democratic context where free speech is valued. Our focus is to engage Hamiltonians in dialogue with one another on matters concerning our great city. We encourage all Hamiltonians to vote. To get to know other candidates who have registered, click here. For more information or to be a guest here, please email adminhamiltonian@cogeco.ca.
Who the heck does Mr. DiIanni think he is? He asks our Mayor to demostrate leadership, why didn't Mr.DiIanni demonstrate leadership when he was Mayor?
ReplyDeleteYou had your chance Mr. DiIanni, don't think Hamiltonian's forgot about your incompetancies while you were Mayor.
Larry...you should get your facts straight and not spread falsehoods. I didn't see you at Tuesday"s council meeting where it was specifically said that the west harbour was still the approved choice and the motion passed was only to ask HOSTCO for an extension to investigate the feasibility of the MIP site. It's nice to see that you are throwing your support to Bob Young rather than high tech development where the future of not only the city but the whole country lies. Do you have specific evidence where the city is still buying up land at the west harbour right now except where they had previously signed a binding legal contract. When you first entered the race I was prepared to vote for you but now before I do that I will vote for Michael Baldasaro just on the fact he is a more honest man. I don't think you can explain away the falsehood you lead your release with as an accounting error. I am sure this release was intended for tomorrow's paper. It is not too late to call and have it withdrawn or amended with the truth.
ReplyDeleteHi Larry - I believe there are not that many properties left...unless you include the toxic dump waste land Hess - Queen AND Mr White Star Group.
ReplyDeleteMaybe another one or two but only 1 of my neighbours remain now. Very, very sad...all for naught and certainly disruptive to 'community building'.
Now, speaking of Mr White Star Group, I hope that the new council is open to ALL sorts of community input (unlike the current one) rather than the special interests of 1 or 2 investors.
I'm almost afraid to say that we are concerned of what the options might be with names like 'Frank Gehry', Forum Equity Partners, White Star Group and Katz Group being bantered around. Everyone, it would appear, wants to have a 'piece' of us and not necessarily in a 'good' way!
Fred apologists in damage control mode is not both funny and futile.
ReplyDeleteKS...Not once in my criticism of Mr. DiIanni did I even mention Mayor Fred. If you read back none of the posters did either. He is getting well deserved criticism for misleading the voters. Did it offend you that I find Mr. Baldasaro more trustworthy than Mr. DiIanni? I am sure Larry is already in damage control mode before the papers hit the streets in the morning. Will all of Larry's supporters be coming here to defend him anonymously and unlike you will someone have the courage to contribute their posts with their name.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been slightly edited by Hamiltonian Staff to keep it in line with blog policy. If the writer would like to discuss this, please email adminhamiltonian@cogeco.ca
ReplyDeleteI guess DiIanni is "living the part"? Acting like he is already mayor and all. And what's with all the trucks painted with his campaign on the side? Moving billboards? All I can think of every time I see his posters and banners is "If he's re-using last times' campaign stuff to run again this time, (EDIT) Get off your soap box Mr. Larry. Time to go home.
Holy bat burgers, Larry!!! I see from the Spec today that you are RIGHT on the mark! I see that Freddy IS still planning to expropriate.
ReplyDeleteFYI folks - expropriation is ONLY for City-related use ---NOT for private developers and investors.
I hope that expropriation stops NOW - something is horribly wrong here.
Just as we all suspected DiIanni has waited for the cards to fall and is now picking at the carcass. I often wondered how long Mr. Transparancy" was going to wait before finally declaring some kind of position. I can't believe he actually used the phrase "demonstrate sound financial leadership". If that isn't painting the kettle black I don't know what the hell is!! Anyone who has had the opportunity to read ANY of the diatribes written by DiIanni on the Chris Ecklund website (conveniently now removed) will recognize the rantings of a bitter, defeated, down trodden individual. It is time to move on Larry and if you are truly interested in doing "the right thing for Hamilton taxpayers" please retire gracefully and ride serenely into the sunset on your little scooter!!.
ReplyDeleteIt's deeply ironic that the man who brought us a half a billion dollar highway that has done little to alleviate our tax burden, endless tax-sucking sprawl, and now wants us to sacrifice the public good to a small private interest, is crying crocodile tears about "out-of-control spending".
ReplyDeleteHe lost the suburbs in the last election and he's not going to let that happen again. All this faux concern about taxes is his way of playing to suburbanites' false belief that they are subsidizing the lower city. His will be a divisive campaign pitting the suburbs against the lower city. He knows he can't possibly win the lower city, so his only chance to win is to sew up the suburban vote by appealing to suburban resentment. Ick.
Fred might want to continue to expropriate but perhaps someone should inform him of the LAW.
ReplyDeleteIn order to expropriate the city needs a project to be approved and finalized, with all building and structural designs done. This is needed to show the court that they need the land that they said they need. You cannot buy land because you might need it later, it doesn't work that way. No one at west harbour had to leave, some chose to sell and that's fine if that's what they wanted to do but the expropriation orders that were filed did not proceed because the city has not yet been able to PROVE that they need the land and for what purpose. Furthermore the expropriation cited Pan Am as the reason and this is no longer the case. If a developer wants to build on these lands they must approach the owners to see if they want to sell, they cannot force them to, and the city cannot legally purchase the land and flip it to a developer because they must have a reason for expropriating the land in the first place. Selling it to a developer is not reason to expropriate.
To Kathryn.. is this the same Kathryn who said this on another thread Follow the Money?
ReplyDeleteKathryn said...
This seems to have become the portal for constant, ugly interchange. Maybe we can all spend a week saying really nice things about a candidate or two, maybe nudge people to see some of the good qualities of the people we might vote for? We can rip apart the ones we don't like in our minds for a few days!! Thanks.
Check the records Anon,
ReplyDeleteLarry won the old city last election and Fred won the burbs (except stoney creek).
I hope Fred has a plan to retain those suburban votes b/c he's ignored us for 4 years.
That's what I said, Suburbanite. Larry lost the burbs last time and he's not going to let that happen again. He may have won the old city last time, but there's no chance he'll win it this time, so his only chance is to appeal to the burbs.
ReplyDeleteAnd just how have you been ignored, exactly? New roads, new schools, new subdivisions, and new power centres not enough for you?
Thank you SO much, Anonymous!!!!
ReplyDeleteHouston - we have a HUGE PROBLEM. My neighbours were TOLD they were to be expropriated. Does anyone think for one minute that anyone would want to leave a home that they raised their children in? My neighbours felt very attached to their homes. Only the word 'expropriation' was used with them from the City.
I can't find (rather mysteriously?) the article from the Spec.com that addressed this from the perspective of my neighbours. What on earth is going on?
Correction...just found it. It's also interesting that, in the same article, this is a direct quote:
ReplyDelete" Mayor Fred Eisenberger said the city already owns 85 to 90 per cent of the land and current expropriation will continue."
WH ED...could you please supply a link to the quote you cited, the date it was made and the position council was working under at that time.
ReplyDeleteHappy to, Tom!
ReplyDeleteSept 2nd, 2010 - yesterday - Spec.com
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/253056--residents-upset-city-forced-them-to-move
Council's position? Well, if you can work through the mire of this week, I'd have to say that the WH was off the table (in consideration of Tuesday's vote).
I'm telling you all - Eisenberger must have land in the WH OR he must have cut a deal with a developer for his next job. Something's wrong here.
Addressing WH ED,
ReplyDeleteI made the comment before concerning expropriation.
I do think something is very wrong with this also. No land should have been purchased in the first place because it's use was never certain. A project must be approved because if someone should object to the expropriation it must be shown that the land is needed. So it would have to be shown the parts of land that the project would cover. If the expropriating authority sees that yes the project falls on said land then expropriation would be approved. In this case, as of now there is no project. I know some people in this area and have spoken to some, and yes some have objected and asked for a hearing of necessity, which basically asked the city to prove they needed the land, to supply documents and plans. No plans were given. In regard to the statement that 85 to 90 percent of the land has been purchased by the city is also false. The city originally wanted this entire block of land which includes stewart,tiffany,bay and barton as well as the barton side stretching down to hess. This was split into phase 1 and phase 2. The 85 to 90 percent ration only refers to phase 1. Phase 2 refers to the barton side of this block which was planned to be purchased at a later date. I believe this section include some 20 properties. Phase 1 included somewhere around 20 as well. The total originally given was 42 properties, so roughly 45 percent of the total has been purchased to date at a cost of just under 10 million. It is very possible the remainder of these lands could be expropriated in the future, but you figure there would need to be a city project approved for this site. Given the time needed to plan, design, and approve a project as well as acquire funding it may take years to get to that point. Furthermore, my last point is a doozy. If the city continued with the west harbour as the pan am site and someone objected to the expropriation, it could potentially be tied up in court for years which would pretty much destroy any of the city's hopes of sticking to any kind of pan am deadline.
OMG. By 'phase' 2, do you mean the houses on the SOUTH side of Barton???
ReplyDeleteBarton to Hess does not have any housing - it's the toxic abandonned site there. If you are speaking about 20 properties, that would include the South side of Barton where there are 8 houses.
We were assured that our homes would NEVER be considered for expropriation. Maybe we should talk.
BTW..Eisenberger came up with 85 -90%.
Anonymous: Would you please be so kind as to let me know where I can find these phases listed. There are 3 areas in Setting Sail but no phases.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much.
If Mr. DiFalco ran for Mayor, Larry you would have no chance! Remember that!!
ReplyDeleteHamiltonians who think CAL DIFALCO would become Mayor over everyone on the candidate list...ESPECIALLY DIIANNI!!!!!!!
Bashing mayoral candidates seems to be a great pastime here. Is this what all politics is like or just in Hamilton?
ReplyDeleteI am proud Hamiltonions have heart to be different...
ReplyDeleteI have travelled extensively across this country,lived and worked...
To be a Hamiltonion is to have in your jargon
Holy Mackenaw!!!Instant recognition across this land..
I love that our election candidates are unique. Having CHCH air the platforms etc of other municipalities, has reaffirmed to me we have colour, personality and a lot of HEART!!!
Like family, its ok for me to criticize - but don t let an outsider try it!!!..thats how I felt travelling throughout Canada when people commented on my birthplace.