Quote:
Originally Posted by movingtohamilton
Some business guy may receive $ for a project on the site of the former Shoppers Drug Mart?
I'm clearly naive, but why are municipal taxpayers subsidizing entrepreneurs? What happened to that old-school risk-reward paradigm. Is the Hamilton municipality flush with cash, or teetering on the edge like many medium-size cities?
As mentioned, I have much to learn about my new city.
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The incentives were put in place because it is incredibly hard to find an institution that will financially back a project in the downtown core. The incentives help the developer with that hurdle so they can get the project off the ground and re-pay the loan to the city later. When the downtown risk ratio starts backing off and the banks start more readily offering loans for building projects in the core, I'd imagine the program might be discontinued or rules tightened.
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"Above all, Hamilton must learn to think like a city, not a suburban hybrid where residents drive everywhere. What makes Hamilton interesting is the fact it's a city. The sprawl that surrounds it, which can be found all over North America, is running out of time."
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