Comments on The Hamiltonian: 10 Tough Questions with Raise the Hammer's Ryan Mc...

Ryan: Well I can appreciate your efforts, I am ve...

2009-12-08T11:21:46.750-05:00

Ryan: Well I can appreciate your efforts, I am very disturbed by the posting made by Meredith Broughton on this article.

[uncouth behavior].

For the most part, I do publish my name on both The Spec and here, but Ms Broughton had no right to divulge who I am on Raise the Hammer. If I chose to remain anonymus, that is my choice, not hers.

I have given many, many volunteer hours to my community, in trying to bring forward the voices of those who struggle.

Given this article in The Spec

[make welfare make sense].

and her own blog posting, which goes against what the health professionals in this city have advocated for,

[not a health professional].

One does have to question what her motives really are about.

I am a true Hamiltonian, born and raised, not someone who has come from Toronto. Her calls for cosmetic changes, which have been done, over and over again, in my lifetime, have done nothing to improve the situation downtown.

If you do not change the systemic problems, meaning the inadequate amounts of social assistance, ODSP, the lack of good paying jobs, which have fled the city over the years, then nothing will change.

If you wish to engage and make this city better, then one has to wonder about the messages, since many of the people who do post engage in

visit [Poor Bashing].

the point that I am making is that the current sta...

2009-11-20T13:28:18.047-05:00

the point that I am making is that the current status of responsibilities that ends at each individual municipalities border's is not good enough.Some higher level agency has to have necessary powers to make those bounderies seamless. Let's look at this in a financial way for the benefit of all Ontarians and not respective transit systems. I do not know what is the level of subsidies is given by the Province but I bet they are the biggest stakeholders in most transit systems.

Hi Rick, AFAIK Metrolinx has not selected a techn...

2009-11-20T13:11:59.255-05:00

Hi Rick,

AFAIK Metrolinx has not selected a technology for the light rail line, but it won't be like the Scarborough RT, which was an experimental technology by the Government of Ontario that was originally supposed to be installed in Hamilton.

The LRT line will be a modern tram - a light electric vehicle running on rails and set into the street. It will likely have low floors throughout for full accessibility and be fast, smooth and quiet.

As for the colour scheme on RTH: you can always install the Readability bookmarklet:

http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/

Kind Regards,
Ryan

Ryan, LRT is great idea for Hamilton. My only conc...

2009-11-19T22:29:23.143-05:00

Ryan, LRT is great idea for Hamilton. My only concern with this is what model type train/ car will be selected for downtown Hamilton? I hope it's nothing like the one they have here in Scarborough, Toronto. I find the ones they have here run too slow, the ride is a pretty rough one and the cars themselves are small and are very cramped especially during the rush hours. When I first moved here to Toronto and had the chance to ride on LRT for the first time to the Scarborough Town Centre I was intrigued to find out first hand what it would be like to ride on one these and tried to picture this particular model running up-and-down Main Street in Hamilton. I hope they pick a better model for Hamilton and I hope the one for Hamilton in the future runs more smoothly then the one here in Scarborough does.

Also, one more point. I would post more often on your Raide the Hammer blog if it were not for that hideous green colour that dominates it. Is there anything that you can do about changing it to more appealing colour? I suspect that green colour has "spooked" many others from posting there as well.

Rick Cordeiro

Mr. Dubeau, I agree that transit systems are vital...

2009-11-19T22:21:37.969-05:00

Mr. Dubeau, I agree that transit systems are vital
to our economy but do not believe we are incapable
of responsible local management of them. There is
failure at many different levels but it is plain
to me that there is an absence of vision and a
clearly defined mission.

What can be done to boost ridership? More riders
would obviously put transit back in the black. So
where is the public promotion of our local loco-
motion?

A long time ago there was a show I enjoyed watching
which featured about a dozen characters commuting
from Toronto back to Burlington on a GO train. The
show was filmed in the morning and aired the same
night with a cost of about $40k CA per episode.

"The improvised format and quick turnaround enabled the inclusion of references to extremely current events, giving a heightened sense of realism and currency. For example the 2003 North America blackout was mentioned the next day. The show typically dealt with fictional relationships, humour and the non-fictional topics mentioned were the cases of Scott Peterson, Karla Homolka, the SARS outbreak and different views about President George W. Bush."

Can anyone name that show and in considering the dire straits
of our local television these days, would a similar show hold
potential to increase ridership and viewers and possibly help
out our own local economy too? Does this city have the local
talent (writers, artists, actors, producers, sponsors, etc.)
necessary to pull IT off and get us on the LRT track
that meets up with Pan AM in 2015?

I think so, if we'd start using our imaginations and integrate
our inclinations, the possibilities are endless. These are
very interesting times we're living in and our print media
would have us believing we'll all become paupers before
dying of the flu if we don't subscribe to their spin
and roll over in sleeveless chagrin. I can guarantee
there are less riders today with all the fear that
has been created over catching a mild bug.
We should certainly avoid public
transportation with that
going around, EH?

As Ryan mentioned regarding transit systems i.e la...

2009-11-19T15:51:59.439-05:00

As Ryan mentioned regarding transit systems i.e lack of seamless transfers wich results in loss of productivity. It is my opinion that transit systems within the GTA and the peninsula is vital and should be under the jurisdiction of the province. I can see in the near distant future that Metrolink or a similar government agency would take over the responsibility of all transit systems within our area. Transit systems are too vital to our economy to be left under local jurisdictions.

Greetings Ryan, I should also clarify that certain...

2009-11-18T17:35:08.007-05:00

Greetings Ryan, I should also clarify that certain
users are chastised with negative votes just because
of who they are and has nothing to do with inappropriate
language or content. I'm not knocking the feature at all,
in fact I think it is a good thing but it is prone to abuse.

For the record, I myself have never used the voting apparatus.
Thank you for correcting my error. Keep up the great work;-)

Hi WRCU2, Thanks for your constructive feedback. ...

2009-11-18T12:01:18.716-05:00

Hi WRCU2,

Thanks for your constructive feedback.

Just to clarify, comments *never* fade away completely. The idea is not to censor but to de-emphasize inappropriate comments so they don't sidetrack legitimate discussion.

Comment fading is still an experimental feature, and it may yet change as we observe how it works.

As for councillors and the populations they represent, I should point out that it was an RTH reader who made this observation in a comment that cited a previous RTH article:

http://raisethehammer.org/blog/1560#comment-35350

That is what I mean when I write that the readers provide at least as much value to the site as the writers!

Regards,
Ryan

I am moving to Toronto, and I wont miss the Hamilt...

2009-11-18T10:05:28.410-05:00

I am moving to Toronto, and I wont miss the Hamilton drama? But I enjoyed Hallmarks, The Hamiltonian and RTH. I congratulate Cal and Ryan for having such a healthy relationship . Maybe council can learn a thing or two from these men.

I think RTH and The Hamiltonian offer different things. RTH dives deeper than the Hamiltonian but the Hamiltonian has not been around for very long. Its good to have a place to go to get into a deep read, and a place to go to get a more succinct view of the issues of the day.

I like RTH for the wealth of writers and perspectives. I like Cal's blog because he seems to be very well connected, but it doesnt seem that he allows himself to be part of the "club" I admire that about him. I also think he is a force behind the scenes. I think both Ryan and Cal are doing fantastically!!!! I also like the fact that name calling is not allowed on The Hamiltonian. I think it raises the bar. As well Cal, you might want to do a search under your name on RTH. "stuff" is being said about you.

Respectfully

Joseph V. (former soon to be Hamiltonian)

I have to agree with Cal, Mr. McGreal is a real cl...

2009-11-18T07:40:03.417-05:00

I have to agree with Cal, Mr. McGreal is a real class act.
Raise the Hammer is also an incredibly user-friendly blog,
although I would like to emphasize that a recent addition
to the blog, namely comment voting, was a major turn-off
for me. Users may now vote thumbs-up or thumbs-down on
a particular comment supposedly based on relevance to
the issue, but what is happening is vote happy inner-
circle Hammerites simply always vote down those users
on the fringe with clashing views (e.g. A. Smith) even
if those users often take the time to provide meaningful
input. If a comment is voted down enough times, it becomes
grey and barely readable and eventually disappears altogether.
However, Mr. McGreal and RTH don't need to moderate comments
in the same way as the Specthread, Cal's Hamiltonian or even
the happily defunct Hallmark's rubbish, because in a sense,
the participants do IT themselves.

One advantage to being an established blog with a following,
is for folks to meet-up, because over time a trust relationship
is built-up among the regular contributers. This has often been
manifest with users getting together for "Angry Drinks" at some
arbitrarily chosen location.

I like Ryan's RTH and would encourage him and his programmers
to try and maintain its simplicity, which has given it the
success it has so rightly achieved and deserves. I still
visit from time to time because the authors and many
contributers are very well spoken, but I resist
commenting for reasons I already stated.

I am intrigued by Ryan's assertion
that RTH may soon become a platform
for meaningful civic engagement. I am
looking forward to participating once
again under his new and innovative
strategy. If anyone can do IT,
Ryan the Hammer's man can!

Ryan ought to be commended for showing that the majority
was not in favor of raising fares based on actual figures
in ward representation. Thanks for sharing Ryan.

Welcome Ryan: Yes I follow RTH and the public dis...

2009-11-18T03:31:23.527-05:00

Welcome Ryan: Yes I follow RTH and the public discussion are great.

Ryan is right about the Connaught issue, as the debate got quite heated. I speak from the other side, meaning for those that struggle and it was disappointing that many do not understand the plights of those that struggle. I got downvoted a lot, for my comments.

We are all interconnected but there is a class division within the city and I think that people do not really listen to the voices of those that struggle.

At the transit meeting, two young teachers who came to the CAWDB's Poverty and Health forum, came and spoke at the transit meeting. The most compelling observation they made was that one hand there are homes worth 500,000 or more and the dire poverty of others in the same area. It is pretty sad when children get frostbite because they cannot afford the bus and must walk long distances or families that have more then one child but can only afford one bus pass, thus children are missing out on an education.

Despite the vision that Hamilton is the best place to raise a child, many children are falling by the wayside and will never acheive a post secdonary, in order to lift themselves out of poverty. The rules and restrictions place on those families who struggle, whose children are making the attempt to go to post secondary education, especially those on either OW or ODSP, pay the greatest price. But these stories are never in the MSM and usually cause a stir on the blogs as well, as the usual rhetoric that people are just lazy comes out.

Affordable housing is an issue, it is just that nobody wants it anywhere near them. I just wish the the voices of those who struggle, were given equal billing in the public debate.

Many who have never accessed social services, have no idea the process and how degrading it is but in recent days, some families who have lost their jobs due to the economy are finding out just how vile the system is. It is pretty sad when families could lose their children to CAS just because they have lost their jobs and amounts from EI are not enough to pay the bills, especially hydro and heating, due to no fault of their own. Everyone needs to pay attention to what is going on.

I do not always agree with Mr. McGreal however he ...

2009-11-18T00:43:00.596-05:00

I do not always agree with Mr. McGreal however he has done the city and its citizen a huge service by providing a forum for the exchange and discussions about the issues facing the city. You too Mr. DiFalco, although I have always found RTH more comprehensive than your blog, or the Hallmarks blog ( a sorely missed feature of thespec.com). No offense intended of course, as I do really enjoy reading and commenting here.

In many ways I find RTH similar to The Economist but focused on urban issues. It discuses a topic, provides facts, and an opinion in the same article. The information is top notch for the price, and as long as you are able to realize that sometimes what you're reading is opinion, I can't think of a better supplement to any hamiltonian's daily media consumption.

Perhaps as RTH is directed more towards an activist focus, there needs to be a discussion about launching some sort of broader based online "Hamilton Portal".

*Disclaimer: I have been published on RTH and I hope to be published again in the near future, so take my comments as you will.

THIS: "One further note in this regard: young...

2009-11-17T23:05:37.071-05:00

THIS: "One further note in this regard: young creative professionals coming out of school don't want to live in the suburbs the way their parents did. They want to live in cities. At the same time, aging Baby Boomers are starting to return to cities so they have closer access to civic amenities and high quality health care. If they can't find what they're looking for in Hamilton, they will go elsewhere. Hamilton stands to gain - or lose - both the most creative and the wealthiest cohorts in the Canadian economy"

I can't believe how few people see the reality of this. Staggering.