Quote:
Originally Posted by Wheelingman04
I know there are a lot of steel mills in the area. Are these steel companies shedding jobs or are they staying in good health?
Is the city revitalizing/gentrifying?
Is the proximity to Toronto/GTA a good or bad thing for Hamilton?
Thanks.
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Someone else may be able to give a more detailed answer, but I'll take a shot at it.
As far as I know our economy isn't doing relatively terrible, but the steel mills have taken a big hit. One of our Largest, Stelco, recently shut down until next year (I believe) and 1500 jobs were lost. There have been layoffs in the Health Care industry as well, which is currently our largest (Hamilton Health Sciences being Hamilton's largest employer). HHS is still building massive expansions at three of it's five hospitals though, which is creating a lot of construction jobs.
The city is revitalizing, although it is a slow and painful process. There are a lot of developments that have been proposed/are in the works for 2009. Some of these include:
- 4 hotel developments
- McMaster University Innovation Park (Research Facility)
- Major expansions to Henderson/St. Joes/General Hospital
- City Hall renovation
- Lister Block renovation (heritage building)
- Proposed LRT public transportation (to hopefully start by 2013)
James Street North has been revitalizing steadily over the last few years and continues so this year. It seems all of the revitalization has been starting outside of our core downtown, and hopefully in the future will work itself inwards.
I can't comment on gentrification because I am not sure, but certain developments seem to be promising such as the Hamilton Grand boutique Hotel, which will include condominium units starting at $200,000. This could possibly bring some more affluent individuals into the core where a lot of lower income individuals currently reside.
The proximity to Toronto can be seen as both positive and negative depending how you look at it; it's pretty subjective. I think Toronto is a great city and it's nice to be only 40-60 minutes away. Another benefit from being close to Toronto is the proposed improvements to our infrastructure and public transportation via Metrolinx (the corporation that deals with transportation for the Toronto-Hamilton region). It is inevitable that Toronto get's the bulk of the funding, but because of the size of Hamilton and proximity to Toronto we have quite a few projects with high priority as well. By the same token, though, a lot of white collar workers that live in Hamilton commute to Toronto everyday which does not do so much for our local economy.
Hope that gives you some insight into Hamilton! Why are you wondering, if I may ask? Are you interested in moving here or just curious about Hamilton?