Downtown Re-Centred.

[miketoronto]

My newest plan. Your views. This would take a lot of work from the city to do.


Click the link to hear the music to go with it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVExfTxg5is

---------

HAMILTON RE-CENTRED
DOWNTOWN. IT'S IN THE BEAT OF MY HEART!

GOAL: 100,000 jobs downtown, by 2015

-New tax breaks to business located downtown. Downtown tax rates will be set below the business tax rates in the suburban 905 belt.

-No tax payments for 5 years, to new business moving downtown.

-New marketing and economic development plan to bring business downtown.

-New anti sprawl bylaws to discourage suburban office parks in Hamilton. Putting the focus back on downtown.

-Ban on suburban hotels in Hamilton.

-Downtown Hamilton will become the second largest business district in the Greater Toronto-Hamilton area.


Photo thanks to Downtown Pittsburgh Partnership.

GOAL: DOWNTOWN TO AGAIN BECOME THE RETAIL HEART OF THE REGION

-New strict bylaws on suburban retail development, all but shutting the door to suburban retail, except local retail. Regional retail stores will be encouraged to open downtown instead.

-New and improved Hamilton City Centre/Jackson Square.

-Government grants for new homegrown retail operations to open downtown.

-Major tax breaks to downtown retail.

-New marketing and economic plan to bring retail back downtown.

-A new market building for the Hamilton Farmers Market.

GOAL: DOWNTOWN TO BE THE CULTURAL AND ENTERTAINMENT HEART OF THE WESTERN GOLDEN HORSESHOE!

-New grants for cafe's and restaurants to located in the Gore Park area of downtown.

-Support and grants for downtown theatre and entertainment groups.

-New Tivoli Theatre on James North to be operated by the City of Hamilton as an arms length agency.

-New Downtown Cultural Centre program to promote and support downtown cultural venues.

-Gore Park weekend parties, every weekend, featuring music, food, and art.


Photo thanks to the Downtown Pittsburgh Partnership.

GOAL: 60% OF COMMUTERS TO ARRIVE DOWNTOWN BY TRANSIT, WALKING, AND BIKING!

-New partnership with the HSR to provide express commuter bus routes from all sectors of Hamilton to downtown.

-New GO BUS commuter service to Downtown Hamilton from surrounding areas.

-New FREE Downtown Hamilton circulator bus, connecting different sections of downtown together.

-New bike parking lots at stratgic locations throughout downtown.

-Hamilton GO Centre to become the Union Station of the Western Golden Horseshoe, with Via Rail service, as well as the current intercity and commuter bus services.

DOWNTOWN-MCMASTER ECONOMIC CORRIDOR

-The city will put focus on Downtown Hamilton, McMaster University area, and the areas along King and Main Streets, between the two hubs, as the economic super core of the region.

-Goal of over 200,000 jobs by 2015.

PRESERVING THE PAST

-New grants to restore historic buildings in downtown.

-Don't pay taxes for 5 years, for restoring a vacant downtown building.

-Realaxation of zoning laws on historic buildings, to further speed up the restoration of these buildings. Developers will be able to mix uses without having to conform to current zoning laws. Following the success of the King-Spadina model in Toronto.

GOAL: A STYLISH DOWNTOWN

-New street furniture, planters, and art work.

-New Urban Design board, to approve all new buildings going up in the downtown core.

[go_leafs_go02]

I love it. Honestly, I love it.

so bright and optimistic, but sorry, very unpractical.

you want to ban suburban retail. Guess where it will end up? Just outside the city limits. cities like brantford, burlington, and grimsby will jump at the opportunity to take retail sales from the 'banned' suburban retail.

I like the transit idea. Hamilton is situated in an awkward spot though on a regional scale. We're too far south to be a connection point between the remainder of South-Western Ontario, and even on the current status of railway lines, only connections we have not to the GTA would be towards Smithville, and Welland. unless some major changes are made with building a connecting rail link up from the go station back to the CN rail line for connections to St. catharines/niagara falls.


I think focusing on making a bike orientated city is somewhat silly. I'd sooner dedicate lanes for transit than bikes. merely biking up the escarpment every day is enough to kill the average person, so that would cut off most mountain residents from biking to their work, which I believe you want to focus on being downtown.

Nice dream, too bad finances control everything. I love the Historical Building Preservation and Renovation initiative. 5 years of tax free would be great. I don't think the city is collecting much taxes if at all from the current status of most dilapidated buildings.

I think honestly our future would be brightest if we move away from the Steel Industry image and focused on redeveloping the bayfront. But again, costly and impractical at this current time.

I love the optimism, but if you force too many restrictions on residents who enjoy convenience, they'll head out, to places like Mississauga, Brampton, where those bylaws aren't in effect.

Hamilton isn't a city in the middle of nowhere, there is always competition amongst Toronto, Hamilton, and the cities surrounding it. You can easily move to a different city, and hold on to the same job, since we are part of one of the largest urban areas in North America.

[flar]

Bringing back the incline railways would be a huge boost to cyclists.

[DC83]

Some great ideas, MikeToronto... yet as go_leafs_go pointed out, pretty unpractical. That being said, I wish everyone at City Hall had as much creativity & innitiative as you (and all of us, for that matter).

"GOAL: 60% OF COMMUTERS TO ARRIVE DOWNTOWN BY TRANSIT, WALKING, AND BIKING!"

Simple Solution to help: Free Transit Days!!
Smog Days, Winter Storm Days, Earth Week, Holidays (especially Canada Day & New Years Eve/Day) to start.

[raisethehammer]

awesome stuff.
I'd make a slight change to the retail being 'banned' in the suburbs.
We need an instant moratorium on big box developments. We have far more than enough.
Other than that, I pretty much like everything you've got here. Not sure that the Tiv needs to be run by the city. An arts group can do it fine.
Bike lanes and bike infrastructure is such a great investment and it's so cheap.
Hamilton is fairly small and compact...no reason we couldn't have one of the highest bike riderships in Canada or even North America. It rains 7 months a year in Portland and they pull it off.
Montreal is like the north pole compared to here and they pull it off. Hamilton's size lends it to being walkable and cycle-friendly.

People will surely come on here and bemoan the legislative efforts to curb sprawl and keep growth in the city. Yet, the fact is, that is what turned Portland around. They drew a line around the city and said "that's it". No more.
And they stuck to their guns. The result? well, go look at some of the photo tours I've posted in the neighbourhood revitalization thread. Go online and read about how they've become leaders in proper development.
Too many people in Hamilton consider that type of action to be heavy handed...I consider it absolutely necessary. We've given oil/gas/auto/big food trillions of public money for decades and they've generally succeeded at ruining our downtowns. It's time to reverse the trend. The same governments that have been feeding the death of our cities can help breathe life back into them (like Portland has) with forward thinking initiatives, tax structures and legislation.
Good work Mike.

I generally like the goals of the plan, which has good intentions. However, I think it could use more carrot and less stick.

[chris k]

Some good points to help growth such as

-New tax breaks to business located downtown. Downtown tax rates will be set below the business tax rates in the suburban 905 belt.

(helped make dubai what it is today)

-New and improved Hamilton City Centre/Jackson Square.

(beleive that is extremely important to turn downtown around)

and a couple others.

Also if i could add to the culture section having some sort of multicultural festival in Gore park. Including everything from folk dancing/music to modern sports. I beleive it would be great to bring people back downtown and to recognize each others culture and create better ethnic friendships.

[flar]

Whoops wrong thread!

[matt602]

A lot of very good ideas but also a lot of ideas that are WAY too harsh on suburban business. We have an airport that would suffer a lot if your ideas went through.

I think the key is making downtown competitive, not just banning a bunch of suburban development and forcing development back into the inner city. That's not fair to a lot of businesses and people.

[miketoronto]

I would not really ban suburban development. As it says suburban retail would be allowed for local needs. But big regional shopping like the stuff found at Limeridge would be focused back downtown This kind of plan is not new. Ottawa had a ban on suburban regional shopping for about 20 years.

The theatre could be run by a theatre group. But I think the city would have to pitch in funds to rebuild though.

I added the Gore Park idea.

[waterloowarrior]

lots of great ideas.... the problem with large scale suburban retail ban is that it likely wouldn't be supported by the OMB. You would probably need a Provincial Policy Statement about this type of program. For example, the UK has these policies about their town centres.

http://www.communities.gov.uk/docume...ing/pdf/147399

Wherever possible, growth should be accommodated by more efficient use of land and
buildings within existing centres. Local planning authorities should aim to increase the
density of development, where appropriate. Opportunities within existing centres should be
identified for sites suitable for development or redevelopment or where conversions and
changes of use will be encouraged for specific buildings or areas. Local planning authorities
should also seek to ensure that the number and size of sites identified for development or
redevelopment are sufficient to meet the scale and type of need identified.

Where growth cannot be accommodated in identified existing centres, local planning
authorities should plan for the extension of the primary shopping area if there is a need for
additional retail provision or, where appropriate, plan for the extension of the town centre
to accommodate other main town centre uses.

2.6 Where extensions of primary shopping areas or town centres are proposed, these should be
carefully integrated with the existing centre both in terms of design and to allow easy access
on foot. Extension of the primary shopping area or town centre may also be appropriate
where a need for large developments has been identified and this cannot be accommodated
within the centre. Larger stores may deliver benefits for consumers and local planning
authorities should seek to make provision for them in this context. In such cases, local
planning authorities should seek to identify, designate and assemble larger sites adjoining
the primary shopping area (ie. in edge-of-centre locations).

2.7 In areas of significant growth or where deficiencies are identified in the existing network of
centres, new centres may be designated through the plan-making process, with priority
given to deprived areas8.

2.8 Where existing centres are in decline, local planning authorities should assess the scope for
consolidating and strengthening these centres by seeking to focus a wider range of services
there, promote the diversification of uses and improve the environment.Where reversing
decline is not possible, local planning authorities should recognise that these centres may
need to be reclassified at a lower level within the hierarchy of centres, and reflect this
revised status in the policies applied to the area. This may include allowing retail units to
change to other uses, whilst aiming, wherever possible, to retain opportunities for vital local
services, such as post offices and pharmacies.

[fastcarsfreedom]

You are certainly an idealist and a dreamer miketoronto.

Nonetheless the political movement which supported ideas like those you advocate for died out in most places around 1990.

Don't let me take away from some of the great design elements and ideas you have for improving downtown and refocusing it as a center of commerce, heritage and culture. I see no reason why the implementation of improvements to downtown cannot make it a unique destination unto it's own.

[DC83]

^^ I think Mike's ideas on how to "improve downtown" is actually better than the ideas we PAID for when the City hired that old Windsor Police Chief to determine we needed to turn downtown into a police-state! haha

[raisethehammer]

no kidding...I guess living that close to Detroit for all those years has ruined that guy's view of urban life.

[fastcarsfreedom]

Which former Chief did they hire?

[miketoronto]

Originally Posted by fastcarsfreedom

You are certainly an idealist and a dreamer miketoronto.

Nonetheless the political movement which supported ideas like those you advocate for died out in most places around 1990.

You have to be in you want any luck in getting some change to happen

That is one of the things we have learned so far in planning school. To think big and plan no small plans. You gotta think big to ever get anything done

[markbarbera]

An exerpt from The Spec article about the safety audit:

Shift Wesley Centre out of core: safety audit
January 31, 2008
Paul Morse
The Hamilton Spectator

Moving Hamilton's largest homeless shelter and landscaping Gore Park are among key recommendations in a massive consultant's report on making downtown safer.

The wide-ranging report by former Windsor police chief John Kousik is based on a survey of downtown businesses and focus groups from city hall departments, social agencies and police. Among its 66 recommendations:

* The city look at moving the Wesley Centre shelter out of the core.

* That all new residential or lodging homes be sent to other neighbourhoods or communities.

* That neighbourhood problems be the deciding factor in regular reviews of shelters, halfway houses, residential and lodging homes and related community-based groups.

* Replace Gore Park's grass with low-growing bushes to discourage people from congregating.

* Improve street lighting throughout the core and in its alleys.

"It's a good overall report, but I'm not signing off on it yet," said Councillor Bob Bratina, chair of the Downtown Cleanliness and Security Committee, noting consultations have not been finished.

Imagine, the city hired someone from Windsor to make recommendations on how to improve Hamilton safety - what a terrible waste of our tax dollars!

[markbarbera]

Originally Posted by fastcarsfreedom

You are certainly an idealist and a dreamer miketoronto.

Nothing wrong with that, the world needs as many idealists and dreamers as it can get.

Miketoronto, don't be discouraged by naysayers - continue sharing your ideas. It's refreshing having positive contributions coming in (especially of late), and a lot of your ideas merit more attention and discussion. If memory serves, you are studying urban planning at school. That makes you more of an authority on this thread than most, myself included. Keep at it!

[fastcarsfreedom]

I figured it was John Kousik--I've met him several times. Before you too quick to jump in the decision to use him as a consultant you have to realize the degree to which Windsor has had to deal with issues in the downtown core relating to public intoxication, disorderly conduct and minor property crimes. The police response and management of these issues in Downtown Windsor is a major issue for business owners and residents alike, and something Cheif Kousik dealt with while in command of the WPS.

[markbarbera]

Um, my comment after the quote was a playful barb directed at the other guy from Windsor with all the opinions on how to fix Hamilton (who also happens to dislike wasteful spending of tax dollars), and was made purely in jest. Hence the winking icon....