Hamilton's public profile

[flar]

We all know Hamilton has a perception problem, the city has all kinds of negative associations. We also have the problem of low national profile and non-existent international profile. I wonder if anyone here knows anything about public relations and media and what could realistically be done to improve the Hamilton "brand?"


We have stores like MEC and others shun downtown in favour of suburban locations. The NHL won't touch Hamilton and it's becoming clear they simply don't want to be associated with the city. No major company headquarters ever consider locating in Hamilton. We don't even have hotels. All levels of government seem to ignore the city--it's rare that anything is ever put in Hamilton (CANMET lab being the only thing I can think of). We only have one TV station, CBC doesn't even have a presence here, and the national media rarely reports anything out of Hamilton.

Hamilton exists in a black hole. What can be done?