Welcome to the Hamilton Next blog

The Hamilton Next blog is your opportunity to jump in to the debate about how Hamilton should grow. You are welcome to comment here on anything you read in the series. As well, we will post invitations in this blog to comment on specific topics.

Join in the discussion any time, or if you are happy just to read, that's fine to.

It's your city. It's your blog.

Comments

[RickCordeiro]

It doesn't help much that they removed the link to this blog from the front page of the Hamilton Spectator's web site. After having the link removed they finally placed the link back up 3-weeks later thus the INACTIVITY that was here second half of December onwards.

Rick Cordeiro
imgoalsactionresults@hotmail.com

[Ilpo Lehto]

What we really need is more folks commenting! Having 2 to 4 individuals writing in here is not moving the thoughts forward. I did not want to appear to be the only writer thus I waited for replies to the comments I made. The momentum is lost when it is a month in between comments! Hopefully more readers will put in commentary.

[RickCordeiro]

Well I'm done with this blog. I have given some ideas of what I'd like to see get done here in Hamilton and I would like to submit some more ideas but the thing the concerns me is we have all these people submitting these great ideas here and SOMEONE ELSE working for Hamilton's Economic Development & Planning Department will use them and none of us here will be getting any credit OR compensation for these ideas. Smart idea on their part but I've clued in on this.

Best Regards!

Rick Cordeiro
imgoalsactionresults@hotmail.com

[ilpo]

Is there a need to move the market, Kenrick Chin?
The concept of using the Lister Block may work for the market it seems a bit radical only if it needs to move. Perhaps if there is need for more space the Lister Block would be the next location. In Toronto the market occupies two buildings across the street from each other, both of which are based on historic buildings - both are heavily renovated and added upon. The land deeding of the present market may prevent moving - this needs a legal opinion that I am far from being able to provide.

In regards to the vacant parking lots. It is possible to create buildings where the parking function is retained but the street has a building filled with people. This would be a building with the core or lesser street having the view of the parking structure thus maintaining the streetscape, and hopefully a live one and not a sterile dead evening office structure. Some buildings would be great if they were intentionally made as live-in art creation studios although not all occupants need be artists.

[Kenrick Chin]

I agree with what Louise Dompierre of the Art Gallery had to say about the market. It has to be moved to someplace more visible. Move the market to the ground floor of the Lister Block. Scrap the King St. pedestrian mall. Turn King William into a pedestrian mall and a mecca for the arts scene.
Do something with all those parking lots - build parking ramps or underground parking instead.

And two more of my wild ideas. Have two trolley cars or double decker buses loop down Bay St to the waterfront and Pier 4 and back up John to Charlton. Fare... free.

Build a railway museum where Hutch's is located at the Waterfront Park. The benefits are just too long to list here.

And forget about a stadium in the city core!

All the hoopla over the opening of the Red Hill Valley expressway will be forgotten when the oil crunch hits and gasoline is $10 a litre - where it should be now. All the new residential development pushing the expressway will be a wasteland when cities based on urban sprawl collapse. Small communities like Ancaster, Dundas and Waterdown where people can walk to work or shop will see the light of day once again. Dundas Forever!

[JOHN CHUCKMAN]

Mayor Eisenberger undoubtedly has Hamilton’s best interest at heart in his advocacy of a pedestrian mall on King Street, but I am convinced he is wrong.

Pedestrian malls in North America have for the most part been utter failures. In almost all cases, the malls have been tried owing to the effects of urban sprawl and the decline of downtown commerce.

Chicago had the kind of mall the mayor advocates for a number of years on State Street and finally gave up. Toronto tried a mall on Yonge Street several times with the same result. Ottawa’s Sparks Street mall only hangs on because the federal government dumps money into it, but it is not a success by any reasonable measure.

Where malls work in Europe, it is because the areas are already thriving commercial areas. People live in the city centers and need to shop there.

North American sprawl to the suburbs kills downtown business with the exception of specialty, niche or boutique businesses. Big-box stores kill most old-fashioned street ones. Pedestrian malls do not change these basic forces at work.

The greatest thing our city can do to revive downtown is to encourage in every way possible the building of condominiums to generate middle-class pedestrian traffic and demand for services downtown.

These projects need to marketed, in part, on competitive price, making them attractive even to some in Toronto. Unfortunately, a few recent projects with unsold units, have missed that requirement entirely.

The city needs to compete aggressively with Toronto for projects, businesses, and new developments of almost every description. We have a lot to offer with lower costs, lower taxes, and good transportation.

Efforts like that on King William are commendable to create a restaurant/boutique areas. Areas like Locke Street and James south of King are genuine urban gems and should have their needs accommodated as much as possible.

All our efforts can also be supported by some purpose-built parking garages. These must not destroy any worthwhile structures, but we have empty lots and abandoned buildings could be converted. Good parking pleases suburbanites and tourists, but no one comes if there is little worth coming for, and sadly this is the situation in too much of the downtown.

For these and other projects we must build on the heritage of our fine architecture, at least what is left of it. Terrible mistakes have been made in the past, the destruction of the Birks Building, one of the handsomest commercial buildings in Ontario, being just one of them. Character makes city centers interesting even to suburbanites.

With this in mind, greater strictness over historic district buildings needs to be applied. Too many trust companies are allowing some of these to run down. They are irreplaceable.

In the area the Mayor is concerned with, the single greatest change that could be made with limited expense is to re-do the King and James entrance to the malls. This has become genuinely unpleasant. Brighten it up, plant a few trees, and add some street furniture.

Also the idea for an ice-skating rink at City Hall is a good one. Ice skating at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto has long been a great success.

No one should be impatient. A city center’s coming back is usually slow and painful, but resources must be husbanded and a pedestrian mall is likely a waste of them.

[Joanne Warner]

I have a suggestion...why don't we take some ideas from Pittsburgh? (yes, the city in the U.S.) The similarities in our City's are amazing, ie water and green all around, a port city, beautiful architecture. Pittsburgh used to be known as just a dirty steel town. They've gone through a huge transformation over the years.

Here's an exerpt from a website I came across:

....Where once this city was obscured by industrial smoke, today the skyline view from across the river is rated among the top three best views in the country. And downtown is booming — booming! — with one long-blighted area finally undergoing renewal and a projected 3,000 new residential units being built in the next few years.......

Go to http://popcitymedia.com/features/transform.aspx to find out more. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to pump up Pittsburgh...but if anyone could understand our situation...it's the people of that City.

I agree with Bob Young...sell, sell, sell!!! But, first we need to fix, fix, fix .........

Joanne Warner

p.s. I grew up downtown on Barton St. W. not far from James St. N. during the 60's and 70's. I miss my downtown!!!

[Les Farago]

Hi Hamilton,

I also am very excited about this series and it is very encouraging to see the number of people committed to this city.

I think that over the course of this series, there is going to be alot of great ideas and I would hate to see a good one get lost or overlooked. It may help to categorize/label/tag our suggestions and create a searchable environment for our ideas.
It would help if we could come up with a list of a high level set of categories and maybe work on a type of mission or vision statement. A few statements that describe what we want this city to become.

Here are some possible categories to get the ball rolling:
Human Rights - social issues, poverty, housing, child care
Natural Environment - Sustainability, restoration
Built Environment - Infrastructure, transit, walkability
Governance - policy, government, decision making
Economics - Jobs, industry, sustainability
Education - primary, secondary, post-secondary, adult
Health - facilities, family physicians, research
Culture - Music, art, history, food, drinks (all the good stuff!)

All of these categories are heavily dependent on each other but I think if this discussion continues we could possibly move it into a wiki type environment and possibly create a very useable framework that describes all the ideas, suggestions, categories and relationships and how the relate to the goals we set out for ourselves.

Thanks,

[Les Farago]

Hi Hamilton,

I also am very excited about this series and it is very encouraging to see the number of people committed to this city.

I think that over the course of this series, there is going to be alot of great ideas and I would hate to see a good one get lost or overlooked. It may help to categorize/label/tag our suggestions and create a searchable environment for our ideas.
It would help if we could come up with a list of a high level set of categories and maybe work on a type of mission or vision statement. A few statements that describe what we want this city to become.

Here are some possible categories to get the ball rolling:
Human Rights - social issues, poverty, housing, child care
Natural Environment - Sustainability, restoration
Built Environment - Infrastructure, transit, walkability
Governance - policy, government, decision making
Economics - Jobs, industry, sustainability
Education - primary, secondary, post-secondary, adult
Health - facilities, family physicians, research
Culture - Music, art, history, food, drinks (all the good stuff!)

All of these categories are heavily dependent on each other but I think if this discussion continues we could possibly move it into a wiki type environment and possibly create a very useable framework that describes all the ideas, suggestions, categories and relationships and how the relate to the goals we set out for ourselves.

Thanks,

[Chris K]

I agree fully on the funicular railway ideas. These would be great for the city especially in the western part of hamilton as you can see almost all the RBG. It would also encourage public transit as you would be able to travel directly north-south instead of taking the accesses that also take you east or west. All you would neeed to do is create small bus terminals at the top and bottom of the mountain for easy transfers from bus to railway back to bus or whatever the circumstances with this new move ontario plan.

I also disagree about the steel mills being our future as they are not the main sector in hamilton even today. Sure they will always be there and providing jobs but the economy is shifting with the high dollar and selling steel to the states is becoming a lot less attractive.

[Anka]

I don't know if this has been done before but after watching toooo much T.V. the thought came to my mind to have a reality makeover show for the city. This is more fantasty than a serious proposal but wouldn't it be great fun if we could challenge Donald Trump to make over this city? I'm imagining a series of shows that concentrate on the neediest neighbourhoods. Now that the city has been put on the map by all the film shoots that have taken place perhaps the time is right to turn the cameras on to the real city.

[Anka]

Hamilton is a Steeltown. It is our history, and our future. Due to thier proximity to the QEW the steelmills will always be the most defining characteristic of the city. From outward appearances they only seem to make nothing more than smoke. Unfortunately most of the 500,000 people living in the area have a similar view of the mills but the few that have had some involvement have felt the pride of being a part of something essential to our modern world. Whenever I hear of this city being put down by people from that other city across the lake I remind them that were it not for cities like ours there's wouldn't be able to exist. The output is taken for granted. So how do we instill that pride to all Hamilton residents? I have only a suggestion and haven't the means or knowhow to go about creating this but I propose that a museum be used to show what really goes on behind the steel walls. As you may have guessed by now I have spent many years behind them and can still remember my first day inside. Shock and awe best describes the feeling I had for the technology and the incredible size and power of the machinery. We not only are a city of waterfalls, as some would describe, but one that has a molten steel fall occuring daily. My main point for this blog is that before we expect others to see our town as something of value we have to value it first and right now few honestly do. Although having a new found pride may not bring more money into the area we might see change in atmosphrere i.e. people taking better care of thier properties, neighbours, and themselves. It's not just about money.

[Rick Cordeiro]

I would like to echo David Wootton's remarks regarding bringing back the Incline Railways to Hamilton.

First, some background information. In the beginning when Hamilton was young there was almost no one living on the mountain. As recently as 1891 the Hamilton mountain was a separate community from the Lower city Hamilton and known as "Mount Hamilton." It wasn't until the Incline Railways were brought into Hamilton that the population numbers started to shoot upwards on the mountain. We had two of them in town. The first one was at the foot of James Street South and was there between the years of 1892-1932. The second one was at the foot of Wentworth Street South and was there between the years of 1895-1936. Now, not only was this a great way to transport people and vehicles between the Lower and Upper parts of the city but as well these Incline Railways proved to be great TOURIST ATTRACTIONS.

For example, here's a quote I found earlier this year when doing some research on the subject matter down at the history department of the Hamilton Public Library. It comes from a 1920s brochure. The quote; "There is no finer view anywhere on the North American continent than the panorama to be seen from the Hamilton mountain. The city below, the blue waters of Hamilton harbour and Lake Ontario. In the background, flanked on the east by the famous Niagara Fruit District and on the west by the beautiful Dundas Valley and a range of hills, combine to make a picture no artist could paint. There are several roads leading up to the summit and you can drive upon "high", but if you want to enjoy a unique experience and give the family a thrill, drive your car onto one of the Incline Railways and you will have something to tell the folks about when you go back home."

As far as other Cities in Canada with Incline Railways the two that quickly come to mind for me is Quebec City and just down the road at Niagara Falls. Also important to note here that both of these Cities have recently added new Incline Railways. The price tag? $300,000.00/ each. At that price we should be able to add a half a dozen of these right across the City from Dundurn Street in the West to Stoney Creek in the East. Maybe we start with the two original locations, eventually adding an Incline railway at Dundurn Street South, Sherman Avenue South, Gage Avenue South and another location in the Eastern end of town in Stoney Creek at Gray Road to encourage growth in the Mountain there in that part of our region.

James Street is the obvious first choice as mentioned earlier because of the better connection we would then have between our International Airport on the mountain and the Lower City Hamilton. The second logical location for me in my humble opinion would have to be at the foot of Dundurn Street South. This way we would then have better connection with Mohawk College on the mountain and the McMaster Innovation Park in the Lower part of the city.

Below is a link to a wikipedia article on Incline Railways which also includes pictures. Check out the ones belonging to Pittsburgh. The ones in Pittsburgh look a lot like the ones we use to have here in Hamilton. The link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incline_railway

If we add a half-a-dozen of these right across the city it will cost us something in the neighbourhood of about $2-million. Now some of you out there might be asking yourselves, "Where on earth are we going to come up with that type of money?" That one is an easy one folks. On June 16th of this year the Dalton McGuinty government announced a $17.5-BILLION transit plan for Southern Ontario which he dubbed "MOVE ONTARIO." As reported in the Hamilton Spectator that day $300-million of that would be coming here to us in Hamilton. That's where we get the money for these Incline Railways.

Also check out these two links:

(1) Hamilton Transit History:
http://ca.geocities.com/hamiltontransithistory@rogers.com/

(2) Hamilton Street Railway History:
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~wyatt/alltime/hamilton-on.html

[david wootton]

The following was sent to the Spec last year. However, it was just another one of my many ideas for Hamilton that was not published. It seems that the Spec, being a subsidiary of the Toronto Star, is not really interested in Hamilton or its progress:

I was very interested in your recent article in the Spectator last Friday regarding an incline railway for Hamilton and I would like to elaborate on this.
I think that an incline railway should be built down the mountain at James St. as part of a north - south rapid transit line from the airport to Hamilton Harbor. The financing should come from the provincial government since they already have Ontarians ( that's us in Hamilton and Niagara ) pay $ 1.4 billion for another Toronto subway - this time into Vaughan, and another $ 600 million for rapid transit in Ottawa ! Surely, Hamilton deserves at least $ 500 million !!
The line might take the form of parallel streetcar lines running all the way from the foot of James St. to the airport with stops at the future Via Rail Station at the Liuna Station ( the only sane place to put it as no study on its placement should ever have been required - it's an IQ 70 decision ) , Gore Park and downtown hotels, the GO station at Hunter St., St. Joe's Hospital, Fennell St. and Mohawk College, Mohawk St., Limeridge Road and the mall and expressway with future car rental companies here, Rymal Road, and finally, the airport.
I consider this even more important at the moment than an east-west rapid transit since we are about to have an upsurge in overseas visitors from the British Isles and most likely from the entire world by way of their airports. Not only does it connect air and two rail transportation networks but a possible future terminus for a cruise line into the heart of North America.
At the escarpment, the tramway could take the form of an incline railway, using another set of wheels in order to navigate the 45 degree angle. No tunnel would have to be dug into the escarpment as was done in Pittsburgh for an expressway - a topographic situation much like Hamilton's. This would definitely be a tourist attraction as the tram might make a 10 minute stop at the top for passengers to view the entire city from an outlook at the top of the brow as well as eat in a restaurant before this or another train makes its 300 ft plunge to the bottom. The 10 - 15 minute stop might be necessary in order to wait for another tram to come up in order to equalize gravitational force and reduce energy loss. I'm assuming one tram every 10 - 15 minutes each way along the route. The slogan for the tramway might be " Come with us, we drive over the cliff " , or " Don't worry, there is a hospital at the bottom ".
This has to be Mayor DiAnni's and maybe Dalton McGuinty's next pet project. The expressway is proving wildly successful as it is attracting hundreds of milllions of dollars of investment and thousands of people wanting a quality family home with space on the mountain at affordable prices not available in the Toronto area. I suggest that this will be the catalyst that will remake Hamilton's downtown, improve upon its top place in Canada among large metropolitan areas for a family to live according to a recent study, and secure the future for Hamilton as a transportation hub, capitalizing upon its supreme location in Canada.

[Conrad Daigle]

Well its verry simple but need big time funding .... get the Ti-Cats a NEW stadium and witch it will host the Pam-Am games and get a NHL team that whould get this city exited big time and there Hamilton will have money to up grade the City OVERALL and that Mall down town ... lets bite Edmonton big Mall .

[Nick]

I am so glad the Spec is doing this series. We, as Hamiltonians, need to unite and get excited about the future of the best City in my opinion.

Here are my personal thoughts on what I would like to see (although I don't know how easily these can be implemented given our current situation, some are more big picture ideas):

- Re-locate the Hunter Street GO station to a new GO/Via Rail Station beside LIUNA station and convert the Hunter St. GO station to an HSR Downtown Station
- Develop a Hess Village / Commercial / Events Centre concept down by Piers 8/9 and enhance transportation infrastructure where necessary
- Build an LRT line along James Street from Hunter Street GO Station to Piers 4/8/9
- Further develop a BRT line across the entire Lower City and create an East-West line on the Upper City and a North-South connector line
- Continue to demand that the province upload Social Services and assist further with Transit operating dollars
- Buy as many vacant brownfields as possible, re-mediate the lands and sell the parcels to developers / develop a land bank program with the hope of attracting new high-rise buildings or use as lower income housing
- As part of this land bank program, and to increase Physician recruitment, develop fully functional doctors offices downtown for new doctors who will come to Hamilton
- Expand the Facade Improvement program to ensure as many businesses in the lower city can get these grants to clean up the front of their stores
- Develop and implement a detailed renovation plan of Copps Coliseum, Hamilton Place and Hamilton Convention Centre to encourage patronage
- Build a new State of the Art Civic Centre to house the City and both School Boards potentially, while incorporating the current City Hall tower
- Re-develop Gore Park - similar to the heritage layout as shown here - http://www.hamiltonpostcards.com/pages/gorepark.html
- Develop a fountain in Hamilton Harbour similar to the ones in Las Vegas
- Eliminate bingo halls / exotic dance businesses within the Downtown
- Maintain King & Main Streets as one way but develop an implementation plan to convert all other streets within Downtown to two-way
- Create a City of Hamilton Civic Museum to showcase the history of the City and to display mementos/historical artifacts/special documents that are in the possession of the City
- Increase bus service and develop a night network of buses so people can travel throughout the City any time or night
- Increase floral arrangements throughout the downtown, install flower pots along the major streets (i.e. Main, King, Queen, James, John, Wellington, Hunter, etc.)
- Develop a Neighbourhood Association within every neighbourhood, if possible, to develop grass roots support for working together within the City and to engage the public
- Increase inter-regional transit services, GO Transit or another provider should expand service to other destinations (i.e. Hamilton Airport, Port Dover, Haldimand, Niagara region, Guelph, etc.)
- Definitely need to invest in Hamilton's Economic Development, we should build more convention space and become "The Convention City" or "Sports Tourism City" - by bringing people to come here for work/recreation related reasons for instance, it will open their eyes to a new, re-developed Hamilton and encourage them to live or visit - most will not come without a reason to

[Kenrick Chin]

You introduced the topic on the wrong premise "... about how Hamilton should grow."

Hamilton has the potential to emerge as a model city and a desirable place to work, live and raise a family only after we answer one fundamental question. What is the optimum population size for this city? An economic policy based on an expanding tax base is like a pyramid scheme. Sooner or later it all comes crashing down. Hamiltonians choose to live here for what it is and not another Toronto wannabe. Once we adopt a policy of zero growth we can start working on building a great city.

[edward h.c Graydon]

I was born in this city and I do not think that there is anything wrong with it I think that if you are not happy with your city that you should look inside to find the problem . If you are well travelled you will learn that we are one big country and there is very little change from east to west.

What a bunch of cry babies if you do not like it change it .but you better like red tape.

cheers

Edward Graydon

[Rick Cordeiro]

Hello Hamilton. Can't wait to read up on what everyone has to say. Personally I have a lot of great ideas in mind that I would like to see implemented. Realistic ideas and many of them have to do with reviving some stuff we use to have here in the Hammer. So as I look ahead into our future I am also looking back at our past. This is why when I start to list all of my great ideas I will do so with a title that reads:

"BACK TO THE FUTURE!"

I am borrowing that title from a Michael J. Fox movie. The reason for it is because I feel that in order to know where we are headed in the future we must also know where we have come from.

I feel that ALL ideas should be encouraged here no matter how outlandish it may sound on the surface because maybe that "outlandish" idea could help to ignite a better more realistic idea from someone else.

Let's all join in together and make a contribution. Together we can make it all happen.

The future belongs to Hamilton!!!