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| Clr. Terry Whitehead |
We checked in with Ward 8 Councillor and friend of The Hamiltonian, Terry Whitehead on LRT. Enjoy our chat with the Clr.
1. With the addition of Eastgate Square as a destination, how comfortable are you with LRT as it is currently being envisioned. Has the Eastgate addition and perhaps other adjustments made, moved you significantly from a place of extreme concern to a new perspective on the matter?
My role as a councillor is to ensure that we understand the risks, the consequences and mitigate those issues as much as practical when making decisions. The LRT system moving from McMaster to the Queenston traffic circle was the worst case scenario for a comprehensive transit system. With no North/South connectivity this plan was not consistent with the city endorsed plan and would have put taxpayers of this community at great financial risk. When we were dealing with the EA report at council I knew that the vote would be tight. In good conscience I could not allow the LRT plan in its incomplete design, pass or be supported. I chose to leverage the original plan to Eastgate which provided a greater level of connectivity in our transportation plan. It would increase possible success, but for sure would mitigate the higher risk plan that was in play. I still have misgivings. I believe the uplift argument is overinflated especially when the Canadian Urban Institute indicated that after all is said and done we’re still only looking at only a 1% assessment increase and this projection was made before the Scott Park lands became a non-tax generating revenue property. Ridership is sitting at 444 passengers at peak hour in peak direction. The growth projections for Hamilton have not been met for the last 10 years and I doubt they will be met for the next 10 years therefore these numbers should not be relied on for ridership projections on ridership, uplift, and the operating and maintenance costs. As a metaphor, I believe that this is a plan tantamount to us buying a size 10 shoe when we’re only a size 2; knowing that someday we will grow into it.
Unfortunately so many things can change in that time frame and the costs will still be borne by the
Cooking from the heart – An Un-Recipe for Mushrooms on Toast
My last piece called for institutions to do better in how they approach food service. Since that was published I have been engaged in some interesting conversations with a local food producer and the Chair of a Hospital, in advance of a kind of summit retreat I’ve learned is being organized on the topic.
There will be more to come on that later, but the piece also got me thinking about recipes and the way our mothers and grandmothers cooked. I don’t often publish recipes, the last a wonderful rhubarb dessert, appearing over two years ago. When I look back at it now, it was more about the feel of the dish rather than any real precision in how it was put together.
The wonderful Jacques Pepin recently spoke about the inherent contradictions between codified
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hamilton and Niagara lead Major Trade & Investment Mission to Colombia
HAMILTON, ON – The City of Hamilton, in partnership with the Region of Niagara, is leading a trade and investment mission to Colombia aimed at building business opportunities for local businesses. This will be Ontario’s only trade and investment mission to Colombia in 2017.
With a combined population of more than one million people, the two locations have complementary key industry strengths in advanced manufacturing, agriculture and food and beverage manufacturing, ICT/Digital and Goods Movement. The strategic location of the two includes Hamilton’s 24-hour cargo/passenger airport with a major seaport on the Great Lakes as well as Niagara’s several U.S. border crossings.
The Hamilton representatives on the trade and investment mission are Mayor Fred Eisenberger and Jennifer Patterson, Senior Business Development Consultant from the Economic Development Office.
“This is a mission to solidify new business connections, nurture investment leads, and ultimately create new jobs for this city," said Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger. "Since the Pan Am Games we have been working with the Colombian Government and this trade mission is a major step forward in this business relationship. I look forward to promoting Hamilton on an international stage."
As part of the mission to Colombia, there will be the signing of a "Memorandum of Understanding" aimed at strengthening ties for both countries and will formally establish a solid working relationship in order to move business initiatives forward.
The trade and investment mission will attend business meetings in Bogota, Barranquilla and Medellin, Colombia from September 2 – 9. The delegation includes local business owners as well as academic and government representatives from Hamilton and Niagara region. The Federal Trade Commissioners in the specific cities will act as liaisons to the delegation, facilitating and hosting meetings with a number of Colombian firms.
“Our entrepreneurial spirit is present from our smallest start-ups to our largest firms with a talent pool of highly educated, motivated and engaged citizens and business leaders. This is a good example of our local business owners making international connections to move our city forward,” says Jennifer Patterson, Senior Business Consultant in Economic Development Office.
Hamilton’s Economic Development Office is the central point of contact for business assistance. Its services are geared to serve new start-up companies, corporate relocations, and the expansion and retention of existing business. Its mission is to serve as the catalyst for continued economic growth, job creation, and revitalization in Hamilton.
Looking for Good Governance - is that a big "ask"?
The trend today is for the average voter to be turned off the electoral process because politicians are seen as promoting their own agendas rather the wishes of the electorate. In the US, people were attracted to Trump because he claimed he was an outsider who would rid government of the self serving. But this view by voters is the reason so few are voting anymore. People do not think voting matters.
Elected representatives need to remember that citizens are not making trouble for you; some of our elected leaders are doing this to themselves by ignoring citizens and playing games with the lives of others, serving their own self interest and that of their chosen friends and City Hall technocrats.
Citizens are taxpayers and voters and want their concerns heard by politicians.
For example, in Dundas, the desire of a significant number of citizens who opposed the sale of a well used public laneway to a numbered company were ignored. Similarly, the brouhaha over ward boundaries revealed elected officials looking after their own re-election self interests and ignoring the highly paid consultants. They wasted our tax money, in the process.
The mitigation of an undocumented safety risk to school children on Sydenham Road in Dundas resulted in putting up white posts to shield those on the sidewalk from cars. In the process, they made it less safe for bicyclists. This error then resulted in a new scheme to widen the sidewalk with a boulevard at a cost of about $105,000 awarded in sole source contract. This was all done with little consultation.
We face the reality that elected officials increasingly turn to private consultants for advice at considerable expense and then ignore the advice they get. Conversely, citizens offer free advice, if consulted at all. But the reality is that community consultation process appears to occur after the decisions have already been made and all that is needed to “sell” what is inevitable by chicanery or misdirection. For shame!
The 2018 municipal election is coming and changes need to happen.
Jordan Hill
Dundas, ON
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