Back in the day...
Down to Wire for Mayor's Chair
(Hamilton Spectator, Nov 4, 2003)
The Red Hill Expressway and city finances dominated one of the municipal election campaign's last all-candidates meetings last night -- fuelling some of the more personal barbs of the campaign.
Former MPP Dave Christopherson, criticized by other candidates about his NDP background, rhymed off a list of his accomplishments during 23 years in politics.
"While I was a cabinet minister, I was responsible for a budget of $1.2 billion a year and 15,000 employees. The city of Hamilton has a budget of $1 billion and about 8,500 employees," Christopherson told the audience of about 300.
"I realize that my friend Mr. Di Ianni likes to take that down but I tell you, he'd give his political right arm to be able to list that kind of experience going into an election like this."
Di Ianni, who is backed by business and has frequently referred to the "baggage" he says Christopherson carries as a New Democrat, did not comment directly. But the debate was viewed by the seven men running as a chance to point up opponents' weaknesses as the end of the race nears.
Michael Peters, a financial controller, said a city with such serious fiscal problems doesn't need a mayor with the type of "cap-in-hand" mentality that Christopherson displays.
Tom Murray, a former councillor, took Di Ianni apart as a member of a council that Murray says has done nothing in the last three years but raise taxes, allow services to deteriorate and react in panic to crisis after crisis.
Deamalgamation candidate Dick Wildeman said council members like Di Ianni abandoned responsibility to residents of the suburban areas which became part of Hamilton: "They want their towns and councils back ... a binding referendum and restoration of their democracy."
Wildeman also warned of the rising cost of servicing the city's debt, which stands now at $453 and is expected to peak at $678 million by 2007. It costs $59 million a year to pay debt charges.
But it was debate on the Red Hill Expressway that reflected the community's greatest difference of opinion, and one of its hottest election issues.
Hamilton police yesterday ordered protesters occupying land near Greenhill Road to pack up and move out.
Superintendent Ken Leendertse informed the group -- which has occupied the site since August -- that they must leave. He gave them time to dismantle their sacred fire and clear away their belongings.
They're to be out by week's end.
One non-native protester vowed the group will have to be "arrested and dragged away" from the valley.
Di Ianni says his No. 1 priority is getting the $220-million roadway built, supported by Peters, Murray and many candidates for city council. They say the road has been studied for years, and needs to be built for economic reasons, as well as to relieve local roadways.
Matt Jelly, a 21-year-old who says he is running "not to win," but to speak out, took repeated jabs at Di Ianni and other Red Hill supporters, saying that "there are no conceivable benefits to tearing down 44,000 trees. The public has never been asked what it thinks."
Michael Baldasaro, a pro-marijuana activist and environmentalist, said building an expressway through the valley will trap pollutants and harm health.
Christopherson said the proper thing to focus on for Hamilton's future is not the new roadway but a thriving economy.
Candidates pro and con agree that many voters will make up their minds Nov. 10 based on where candidates stand on Red Hill -- potentially turning the election into a Red Hill referendum
A chamber of commerce poll suggests support for the expressway is strong enough in the community to boost Di Ianni's chances, but only if enough expressway backers get out to vote. Released last week, it showed that 59.3 per cent of Hamiltonians surveyed support the roadway, with 20.8 per cent opposed, 13.8 per cent undecided and 6.3 per cent indifferent.
Enter Jellyman
(View Weekly, Terry Ott, Oct 30 2003)
"Made in Canada by robots." That was the header of an e-mail I received from mayoralty candidate Matt Jelly Mat Jelee (a.k.a. MDA), when I recently attempted to question him about his campaign. Of course. such a declaration would lead any inquiring mind to ask,"Hey, what the hell is he talking about?" According to the man himself, it appears that anything he says should be an "interpret them as you so choose" affair. Jellys candidacy is surely an exercise in grassroots vote-with-yer-feet democracy and is extremely malleable as a result. But the candidate cool with that. "I'm not here to win an election; I'm here to learn as much as I can," he claims. And just for good measure, the candidate promises to "maximize the volume" of his noise after November 10, election day, which I guess could be interpreted in several ways, although Mat assures us that "there is no threat" in anything he may do or say, and all will be legal and "non-violent." Don't think, however, that his blood is incapable of boiling. Just last week, Jelly was perturbed at the treatment he says he received at a recent all candidates debate. In a long missive to various media outlets including VIEW, Jelly bemoans the state of democracy in Canada and called the all candidates meeting he attended "a sham." Jelly said that after he announced to the assembled that the meeting was a joke and walked out, he received a loud ovation. If Jelly's efforts translate into 1,000 votes on November 10, he should consider his candidacy to have been a success.
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"Where architectural imagination is absent, the case is hopeless." - Louis Sullivan
Last edited by thistleclub; Apr 1, 2014 at 12:24 PM.
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