City of Hamilton General Discussion Thread - Page 34

Beedok · #**661** Posted **Nov 1, 2022, 12:36 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheHonestMaple

Generally when people don't show up to vote it means that they have a positive view of the incumbent. Doug Ford's critics really don't like to admit that the guy is actually quite popular in Ontario.

It generally means they’re apathetic about all the options. The classic ‘I didn’t vote’ rhetoric is ‘they’re all the same/equally bad, why bother?’.

ScreamingViking · #**662** Posted **Nov 1, 2022, 3:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

People who don't vote don't count as a vote "against" your unliked candidate. They didn't vote. They don't get a count.

Completely agree.

matt602 · #**663** Posted **Nov 1, 2022, 4:22 PM**

Not voting definitely has a lot more to do with apathy than liking an incumbent. If you like them, you're going to support them by voting. Doug Ford is absolutely proof that being popular isn't a positive thing. His brother was popular as well because he smoked crack and drove drunk despite being a garbage mayor.

Innsertnamehere · #**664** Posted **Nov 1, 2022, 4:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt602

Not voting definitely has a lot more to do with apathy than liking an incumbent. If you like them, you're going to support them by voting. Doug Ford is absolutely proof that being popular isn't a positive thing. His brother was popular as well because he smoked crack and drove drunk despite being a garbage mayor.

Rob had a niche following of die-hard "fans", but I would never say he was popular as a whole in the sense that Doug is enjoying right now. Remember that Doug Ford ultimately lost to Tory in 2014 quite handily, following Rob's last minute drop out (and that's likely with Doug's "cleaner" image than what Rob had).

The PCs just won the most decisive electoral victory in Ontario since the second world war. There has literally never been a stronger electoral mandate in our lifetimes in the province.

That's not a fun thing to hear if you aren't someone who supports the PCs, but ultimately we operate under the political system we have chosen for ourselves and that political system handed Doug and his party a very, very strong electoral mandate.

atnor · #**665** Posted **Nov 1, 2022, 7:04 PM**

I’ve been outspoken about the homelessness and addicts roaming about downtown, however, has anyone noticed the matter has gotten worse since summer?

They just seem to be more abundant and brazen with their harassment. Shame really. Luckily I’m seeing more calls in different forums to re-open mental institutions/asylums. The current approach is broken.

Chronamut · #**666** Posted **Nov 1, 2022, 9:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by atnor

I’ve been outspoken about the homelessness and addicts roaming about downtown, however, has anyone noticed the matter has gotten worse since summer?

They just seem to be more abundant and brazen with their harassment. Shame really. Luckily I’m seeing more calls in different forums to re-open mental institutions/asylums. The current approach is broken.

Yeah thats a touchy subject - I know they "relocated" a lot of them for the pan am games and things were.. ok for a while.. but things are getting worse again.. but one has to look at why they are there, I mean where are they coming from? Is the methadone clinic attracting them? The evictions from the pandemic where many people lost their jobs and now can't afford to pay rent? Or is it truly a mental health issue and these people need to go.. somewhere? The sad part is drugs mainly are what created these people, and hamilton has had a long and contentious problem with that, esp meth.

I remember when they closed down the mental institutions and these people shambled about in gage park, muttering to themselves, shouting at phantoms, it was a scary place to be. Esp since back then things were more.. destitute. And that was just like.. when I was in college.. so maybe 10-20 years ago.

Chronamut · #**667** Posted **Nov 1, 2022, 10:06 PM**

also I had no idea this existed - it's on upper james..

https://flyingsquirrelsports.ca/hamilton-ontario/attractions/

mikevbar1 · #**668** Posted **Nov 4, 2022, 10:40 PM**

Couldn’t find a thread for the OP, and I haven’t seen this posted yet, so here it is… the Official plan has been amended. Urban boundary modifications incoming.
https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-5732 (This link might not have all the info, I saw the news on twitter first)

ScreamingViking · #**669** Posted **Nov 4, 2022, 11:42 PM**

Ford is about to tinker with the greenbelt anyway, to further his vision to provide all the housing Ontario folks will need. Planning, meet government with ramrod.

Wait for "Official Plans" to become less so, on both accounts.

ShavedParmesanCheese · #**670** Posted **Nov 4, 2022, 11:42 PM**

Well, I HAD been having a good day.

Not at all surprised, but upset all the same.

hopefully the new council will have a head on its shoulders and steer growth in the right direction.

ScreamingViking · #**671** Posted **Nov 4, 2022, 11:52 PM**

Firm urban boundary BE GONE! And I'm shocked.

https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/2022/11/04/doug-ford-greenbelt-hamilton.html

Province orders Hamilton to expand urban boundary
Doug Ford government emphatically rejected the city’s plan Friday to freeze its urban boundary and grow within its existing footprint.

Matthew Van Dongen
The Hamilton Spectator
Fri., Nov. 4, 2022

Doug Ford’s provincial government has rejected Hamilton’s pitch to freeze its urban boundary and instead ordered a massive expansion into the countryside that would allow up to 2,200 hectares of potential new housing development.

The decision, delivered to the city late Friday, comes atop a separate Tory government proposal to allow new housing on some protected Hamilton lands in the Greenbelt — despite a prior pledge not to do so.

The news also arrived two weeks after a municipal election, leaving city officials scrambling to organize a response before a new council — with 10 new faces — even meets for the first time later this month.

“Today’s decision is very concerning,” said incoming mayor Andrea Horwath in a statement late Friday. “Cities work well when they are planned to be complete communities ... I will work closely with council and city staff to chart the best path forward for Hamiltonians.”

City planning officials were still reviewing the 77 amendments to Hamilton’s urban official plan late Friday that a provincial post online said were made to “address government priorities related to housing,” as well as growth and employment.

“What are they doing here? How is this a democracy?” asked a distraught Lynda Lukasik, the head of advocacy group Environment Hamilton, who pointed to the province’s “complete dismissal” of extensive community consultation and a decisive council vote last year to grow within existing urban borders.

...

Innsertnamehere · #**672** Posted **Nov 5, 2022, 3:00 AM**

If ANYONE in Hamilton politics is shocked by this they need to screw their head back on. The province repeatedly, explicitly warned council *multiple* times during the voting process on the urban boundary that they would force an expansion.

matt602 · #**673** Posted **Nov 5, 2022, 4:59 AM**

I love how there is literally a video of him saying that he WOULDN'T do this going around on social media. Not that I'd take his word seriously, but still.

ScreamingViking · #**674** Posted **Nov 5, 2022, 5:36 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt602

I love how there is literally a video of him saying that he WOULDN'T do this going around on social media. Not that I'd take his word seriously, but still.

He will say that because they're expanding parts of the Greenbelt, there's no net loss from the parts they're opening up for development.

A Ford's gonna do what a Ford's gonna do.

This does not mean the city cannot plan for a denser urban form within the existing boundary. If there are developers interested in that, anyway. And there will be. But there will also be those wanting to move forward with SFHs and townhomes on the periphery.

Innsertnamehere · #**675** Posted **Nov 5, 2022, 12:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt602

I love how there is literally a video of him saying that he WOULDN'T do this going around on social media. Not that I'd take his word seriously, but still.

To be clear the video is of Ford assuring people he wouldn’t touch the Greenbelt, which he is now proposing to do… but that is a different thing than expanding the urban boundary, which he never promised to not do. In fact, the ministry repeated multiple times in the run up to the provincial election that they would over ride it if council voted to not expand the urban boundary.

The proposed Greenbelt changes are however something new that he had repeatedly claimed he wouldn’t do.

mikevbar1 · #**676** Posted **Nov 5, 2022, 4:05 PM**

There’s some peculiarities about this whole situation that really lends credibility to developers being in Doug’s pocket (something people have always suspected/known). The parcel(s) of land unlocked in Hamilton all appeared in earlier versions of the greenbelt, notably in the 2005 map. So whoever owns these has probably been nudging for the opportunity to develop. Similar cases across the region im sure; look at the swathe of land approved in Pickering. Anywho, these additional lands ceded from the greenbelt are clearly a product of a much more intimate relationship, and the landowner obviously has been wanting to develop for decades now.