[onetimetoomany]

Originally Posted by Bubba9000

I'm a bit leery of city efforts to lure companies to locate here. It always seems to cost us when they do (Maple Leaf, Canada Bread, and others).

The city can and should make Hamilton a better place to live, especially in and around the downtown. Calm traffic, wider sidewalks, better transit, more trees, public washrooms, end parking minimums, cleaner well serviced more accessible parks and green space, to name a few obvious ones. Street side businesses would survive and thrive where now they cannot. These changes would lead to a better fiscal position for the city, with a side effect of increased livability. At some point large employers are attracted because of talent and vitality. All the city should do is clean up it's own house and get out of the way.

Merely "attracting employers" isn't possible. There needs to be something to attract them to.

Well put and I completely agree. The city should focus on revitalizing the core and once the demographic is grown and shifts slightly businesses will follow.