I'd assume most people picked "other" in place of a "none" option.
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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."
Council nixes citizen panel on two-way street conversions
The Hamilton Spectator
By: Matthew Van Dongen
Council has quashed a proposed citizen panel to study possible conversions of one-way streets to two-way traffic.
The $95,000 plan for a consultant-led citizen panel was narrowly endorsed by the general issues committee, but discarded Wednesday by council.
Instead, councillors called for a renewed focus on already approved two-way conversions of at least eight lower city streets, such as Park, Hughson and King William — even as they acknowledged there is no cash in the 2014 budget to do so.
"I'm not interested in spending $100,000 to study this all over again," said Councillor Chad Collins, who urged faster implementation of the delayed conversions, which were supposed to be done by 2012.
Councillor Brian McHattie, who pushed the citizen panel idea alongside Mountain Councillor Terry Whitehead, said he wanted to "depoliticize" a controversial issue.
He also said council likely needed citizen help to push forward on an issue that has "hamstrung" them.
The city’s senior management team has overruled its economic development director and ordered higher industrial development charges (DC) to reduce taxpayer-funded subsidies. And for the first time, growth fees will embrace the complete streets concept and help finance future cycling, pedestrian and transit infrastructure as well as other costs of the “movement of people and goods regardless of the mode of transportation employed.”
While the latest changes are still subject to public input and city council approval, the endorsement of higher fees for industrial development recognizes that Hamiltonians are heavily subsidizing large corporate expansions. Information presented to the development charges stakeholder subcommittee last week shows that subsidy has totalled more than $78 million in the last five years.
A portion of these exemptions are required by provincial legislation, but more than 90 percent are the result of city council policies, including ones that currently discount industrial fees by more than half and provide a 90 percent cut for all development in the downtown....
The city’s development charges reserve account dropped precipitously last year – from over $52 million down to less than $13 million, with the roads component now over $21 million in the red. The persistent shortfalls generated by exemptions and discounts have previously been recovered by city borrowing.
The subcommittee will meet once more before the recommendations go to council for a required public meeting where residents and developers can provide comments. The new fee structure must be finalized by July 6.
Mary should be easy but it may take repeat attempts... and area ratings funds dispensed by the Ward 2 councillor (the secret sauce that made the Cannon bike lanes possible, assuming that project happens eventually).
I would assume that Mary might have added juice because the City has a million or so staked in the Cannon Knitting Mills and adjacent blocks are peppered with architects (David Premi Architects and McCallum Sather are basically next door) who are well-connected urban advocates (one reason why Locke South is festooned with bollards and zebra crossings).
The recent arrival of Jason Thorne also seems like a promising element.
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"Where architectural imagination is absent, the case is hopeless." - Louis Sullivan
Last edited by thistleclub; May 22, 2014 at 9:19 PM.
You mean tactical urbanism? It's still alive but has become quieter and less guerilla-like since the city started actually taking advice and doing things like installing zebra crosswalks and knockdown sticks. Lots of stuff going on behind the scenes but the usual municipal red tape is holding things up. We should see more results when the next participatory budgeting sessions in Ward 1 and 2 happen. I've been taking photos and doing amateur research of what I think are problem crosswalks and intersections in Ward 4 and I'm planning to send them along to Sam Merulla once I compile enough of a list. He seems to be pretty receptive thus far.
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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."
The statement they make. Every time I see them, they send out the message that someone in the city may want to pretend to make this neighborhood safer, but they want it done in the cheapest and least visually appealing way possible. IMO they do more to collect debris than to deter reckless driving.
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"A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul"
-George Bernard Shaw
As a temporary measure I have no problem with them. But while they're more appealing than placing barriers I agree they do look cheap, and they're really not a good long-term compromise.
Don't be knocking those knockdown sticks! Yeah, they're cheap, but at least they city is doing something for a change. For that I can forgive the appearance. I'll give it an A for effort at least.
If they started pouring cement and doing proper bumpouts without years of study and council hand wringing over it, people would complain about the cost and lack of consultation. So either way we can't win.
Considering this is a safety issue and there really are lives at stake, I'll take cheap over nothing for traffic calming.
Considering this is a safety issue and there really are lives at stake, I'll take cheap over nothing for traffic calming.
What's wrong with "cheap"? I like inexpensive things. And you're right, cheap means that you don't get disingenuous concerns about how much money is being wasted.
There is nothing wrong with cheap. It is even better if a solution is cheap, effective and aesthetically pleasing, like this. Of course, this approach would require an element of proactive enforcement in a city driven by complaint-driven enforcement (thus the presence of knockdown sticks) .
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"A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul"
-George Bernard Shaw
What's even crazier is that photo was taken on a Tuesday at 5:44pm and there is hardly any traffic.
Rush hour!
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