Hess Village

[adam]

If owners want to expand Hess Village what about moving northwards to Main St?

[crhayes]

Hess is attractive because there are so many bars (good diversity). It's a popular destination because it's lively and there are many options. If Vranich is willing to invest money into our downtown, especially to fix up a building that has partially fallen down, why are we stopping him?

Hess is no where near as crazy as Peter/Richmond in Toronto... and that is only one section of bars. Toronto is just crazy in general and they find ways to deal with it, so Hamilton can definitely deal with it as well.

[flar]

Seriously, I can't even figure out what the problem is

Maybe our law enforcement should call up other cities to find out how they handle nightlife? It can't be too difficult to police a few hundred square metres, it's not like this is the French Quarter in New Orleans or something.


As for the complaining residents, if you live downtown, you should expect there to be a lot of activity. Secondly, Hess Village is not new, it's been there for a while, people have had plenty of chance to move somewhere quieter if that's what they want.

Personally, I lived in a downtown environment for years, but I wanted something quieter so I moved to Dundas.

[SteelTown]

The CCTV cameras are up and running now.

[mic67]

Whats the channel or url?

Great idea for tourism...

mic67

[SteelTown]

It's not available for the public to see. Only police officers can see what's happening from the cameras.

[LikeHamilton]

Hess Village bar loses liquor licence
Ken Mann
7/29/2009

One of the nightclubs in the popular Hess Village district has been stripped of its liquor licence.

Blu Martini will be dry until September.8th after pleading guilty to overcrowding, permitting drunkenness and obstructing police.

The bar had been charged four times with overcrowding since May. The other charges stemmed from an incident that occured on July.12th.

Hamilton Police have issued more than 170 charges under the Liquor Licence Act since launching a new operational plan and increasing patrols in Hess Village this past spring.

[SteelTown]

Hess Village revellers to fall under watchful eye of police cameras
Police cameras ‘here to stay,’ board chair says

By Richard Leitner/News staff
News
Jul 30, 2009
http://www.hamiltonmountainnews.com/news/article/183533

The seemingly ever-expanding eye of police surveillance cameras will soon be gazing upon Hess Village to help keep unruliness and fights in check.

Members of the Hamilton police services board this week approved spending $50,000 on the installation of four of the wireless cameras, expected to be in place by the end of next month.

First introduced in wired form at five intersections on King Street five years ago, the newer version of the cameras was recommended by a city committee to improve the village’s safety and security, and will bring the overall number in Hamilton to 17.

Deputy Chief Ken Leendertse said the cameras will be monitored from Central Station and allow for the better deployment of the 10 special-duty officers assigned to Hess Village during peak times.

They will also help deter rowdy behaviour and provide video evidence of crimes, he said.

“We’ve proven it that it has a calming effect. We saw that in the downtown core. People know that they’re on video and they don’t act stupid, we hope,” Deputy Chief Leendertse said.

“Whenever it’s a nice weekend, we have our hands full down there (at Hess),” he said. “We want people to have a great time. We just don’t want all the nonsense afterwards.”

While supporting the cameras as “overdue,” Mountain Councillor Terry Whitehead questioned the tendering process, which only considered the radio-transmission system used on Ottawa and Concession streets.

He suggested the tender should have entertained other types of technologies, including those using satellite transmissions. Only two companies submitted bids and one was a subcontractor of the successful firm, Waveform Wireless Inc., which designed the system.

“It is very restrictive and it really doesn’t allow competition,” Mr. Whitehead said. “Often we jump into the first technologies and build a system around it and restrict ourselves, prevent ourselves from having the adaptability to move to something that would better fulfill our needs.”

Tim Fletcher, the project’s designer, said other technologies like dedicated fibre and a Wi-Fi system were explored, but didn’t meet police needs, either because of costs or transmission capacity.

Choosing another system would also have delayed the project until next year because it would require a far more complex tender, he said.

“It just wouldn’t happen this year at all in a timely fashion,” Mr. Fletcher said. “The current system is absolutely expandable and meets our needs well into the future.”

Board chair Bernie Morelli said the Waveform system allows police to address problems in Hess Village expediently and to use cameras “more extensively.”

“It’s clear to me that they’re here to stay,” he said. “The bottom line is it’s a very useful tool to support police. It doesn’t replace police, as you know, but certainly it’s a supportive, technological tool that really is responding to some needs.”

Deputy Chief Leendertse said although the system can easily be expanded to 100 cameras, there are no present plans to do so.

“Right now we’re pretty comfortable with the cameras we have,” he said.

[SteelTown]

Police eye horse patrols for Hess

August 21, 2009
Paul Morse
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/622561

Cops on horseback have not patrolled Hamilton’s streets in almost 100 years, but now Chief Brian Mullan wants to bring back the horse squad.

Mullan said today he plans to create a mounted unit, primarily to deal with crowds in Hess Village and at special events where horses give police advantages in both crowd control and crowd-pleasing public relations.

Mullan has asked Toronto police to lend him a few of their 30-odd police horses and riders for a trial run in Hess Village on a Friday and Saturday night in September, yet to be determined.

If successful, Mullan will ask the police board for funds to create a permanent mounted unit.

Toronto and Niagara police have mounted units, and it is clear they get a great deal of utility out of them, he said today.

“In our city, we always have substantial crowds on Hess Street, and it’s a great area to test that type of utility.”

[realcity]

awesome ^

[SteelTown]

"The plan has the full support of Downtown Hamilton Business Improvement Area, executive director Kathy Drewitt said."

[highwater]

Originally Posted by realcity

awesome ^

Ditto.

[mic67]

realcity awesome ^
---------------

Yep, stoop an scoop

It will be like putting them inside a Mall.

Theory and practice are NOT always the same thing, why is that?

Hess and George St. have elevated grades to them - ie slopes and they are cobble stone, and if that surface gets wet. They better have experienced horses (yep from TO) and very experienced riders -from TO?

Women in heels dont always do well on these surfaces.

Hey give it a try...lol

mic67

[SteelTown]

The cavalry is coming
Mounted patrols hit Hess village tonight

August 28, 2009
John Burman
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/625881
The horsemen are coming to Hess Village tonight and Saturday

Two officers from the Metro Toronto mounted unit will patrol the village starting at 11 p.m. and until 3 a.m.

They’ll be back again tomorrow night at the same time.

There will be plenty of uniformed Hamilton police in the village on foot as well.

The horses’ appearance in the Hess Village entertainment area is a bit of a  preamble to a pitch Hamilton Chief Brian Mullan will make to the next police services board for a three-year pilot project.

Bringing the horses to Hess, says Inspector Warren Korol, is a chance to see how a mounted patrol could be useful, see how the public responds and get community reaction.

Rowdies leaving the Hess Village area late at night and at closing time has been an irritant for residents in the area and there have been a number of incidents in the past when officers faced unruly crowds in the area late at night.

Hamilton police are interested in having a mounted patrol for many reasons, says Korol.

Horses can be used anywhere there is a crowd, such as festivals or even  patrolling the downtown core. They provide high visibility for police and officers in the saddle have a greater view.

“Of course, there is a good public-relations feature with horses too,” says Korol.

In crowd management, he said, studies indicate one horse is as effective as 10 officers on foot.

Korol said Hess Village was chosen  to the horses because police want people to see the horses.

When Niagara police brought two horses from its mounted unit to Hamilton’s Police Week Festival at Pier 4 earlier this summer, he said, they were the hit of the show.

[adam]

I feel sorry for the horses that have to be exposed to all the toolbags down there..

[SteelTown]

Hamilton police looking to mount up

September 20, 2009
DANA BROWN
THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/638331

Hamilton police should find out Monday if a new mounted unit will be hitting city streets in the spring.

After testing the waters with Toronto police on horseback in Hess Village several weeks ago, the city’s force is ready for a mounted unit of its own.

On Monday, the police services board is set to discuss the matter and decide if a new Hamilton unit is warranted.

“This unit will heighten the Police Service’s ability to accomplish crime prevention, manage our entertainment districts, complement our search and rescue capabilities and provide park and trail safety,” said a report heading to the board.

The unit would be a three-year pilot project slated to focus patrols on the core, but would also be available in other areas needing special attention.

The Waterloo Regional Police Service has also gotten the green light for a mounted unit.

[drpgq]

Some of this seems OK, some seems pointless like regulating who gets to be a bouncer, and some of this seems to be just a blatant cash grab.


Clampdown on nighttime hot spots

EMMA REILLY
THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
(Feb 2, 2010)
The city wants to crack down on noise and crowds from nightclubs -- especially in Hess Village.

Today, council members will vote on a new bylaw that would create tougher licensing standards for the city's nighttime hot spots.

Though it would apply to all bars across the city, the new bylaw was drafted specifically because of the problems in Hess Village. The cluster of downtown bars has long drawn complaints for noise, vandalism, vomiting and public urination by partiers leaving the area after last call.

The city has already installed several crowd control measures on the streets of Hess Village, such as floodlights, closed circuit cameras and extra police officers, including some on horseback.

Now, the city hopes the new licensing standards could help regulate nightclubs from the inside out.

The new standards would require nightclubs to provide the city with their plans for cutting down on noise and their tactics to manage long lineups outside.

They would also regulate who's eligible to be a bouncer and require bars to post the name and number of its owner.

If the new standards are approved, venues that are classified as bars or nightclubs will see their licensing fees climb from $146 to $320, resulting in an extra $25,000 for the city each year. They would apply to venues whose primary purpose is to serve alcohol, play music or to provide a place for dancing.

Other cities, including Burlington, Toronto, Windsor, and Mississauga, have already implemented similar licensing standards for nightclubs and bars.

Paul Pappas, the owner and operator of Smooth Herman's in Hess Village, supports the city's push to create new licensing standards for nightclubs. However, he thinks the criteria are too vague.

"My particular restaurant only meets one of the criteria - serving alcohol - and yet I would be classified a nightclub because I am in Hess Village," he said.

Pappas, who is appearing before committee today, says the city should consider whether the establishment has a kitchen, its hours of operation, how many tables and chairs are set up and whether the venue has a designated dance floor.

ereilly@thespec.com

905-526-2452

[matt602]

No. I don't like any of that at all. There's a bit of rowdiness on the weekend on Hess but this isn't the suburbs. It's downtown and that kind of thing should be expected. Just make sure the boys in blue are on hand to make sure it stays in control and that should be it. Increased licensing fees are nothing but a cash grab.

[bigguy1231]

It seems like these morons at city hall can't help but to keep shooting themselves in the foot.

It would serve the city right if these bar owners just shut down and boarded up the buildings. Just to get the point across to the idiots at city hall, that Hess Village is the only place downtown that is generating any income or taxes.

Problems on public property, are the responsibility of the city and the police, not the bar owners.

[SteelTown]

Bar bylaw plan silenced, for now
Proposal designed to quell rowdiness

February 03, 2010
Emma Reilly
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/717006

A proposed bylaw that would allow the city to clamp down on rowdy bars and nightclubs has been sent back to the drawing board.

Yesterday, city council members voted to temporarily shelve a proposal that would create tougher licensing standards for the city's nighttime hangouts.

Several bar owners complained the city's definition of bars and nightclubs was too vague, and a group of nightclubs in Hess Village hired a lawyer to dispute the new standards.

The bylaw would have required nightclubs to provide the city with plans for cutting down on noise and their tactics to manage long lineups outside.

It would also regulate who is eligible to be a bouncer and require each bar to post inside the premises the name and number of its owner, rather than just its company number.

The new standards were created in response to problems with noise and crowd control that have plagued Hess Village, but would apply to all bars and nightclubs across the city.

Marty Hazell, the city's director of parking and bylaw services, stressed the new regulations would only apply to venues whose primary purpose is to serve alcohol, play music or provide a place for dancing.

Businesses that opposed being classified as a bar would have to appear before the city's licensing committee.

The three criteria were unpopular among the bar and restaurant owners who spoke at yesterday's economic development and planning committee meeting.

Several argued that under those standards, restaurants such as The Keg or Lo Presti's could be deemed a bar.

"The perception of an establishment should not and cannot change or affect the definition of an establishment," said Paul Pappas, the owner and operator of Smooth Herman's in Hess Village.

Gary Ceppetelli, the owner of the Slainte and Corktown pubs, told the committee his insurance rates and business loans could get more expensive under this classification.

"The repercussions are fairly onerous," he said.

Marion Tucker, who represented the 17 licensed establishments in Hess Village, told the committee her group has hired a legal counsel who will "be in touch" with the city about the issue.

The recommendations are scheduled to come back to the committee in the spring.