City Hall re-opens

The Spec's Emma Reilly reports:

'After years of debate, months of construction and more than $72 million, Hamiltonians have their City Hall back.

Hamilton's historic City Hall officially reopens today, wrapping up an often controversial debate that pitted rebuilding against renovation and took almost a decade to settle.

This afternoon's celebrations begin with public tours from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. followed by the reopening ceremony at 5 p.m. City Hall will be illuminated at dusk and tours will continue from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

"I'm thrilled that it came out under budget and ahead of schedule," said Councillor Lloyd Ferguson, chairperson of the City Hall renovations committee.

The renovations added a slew of updates to City Hall, built in 1960, while maintaining some of its heritage features. The first floor now offers a resource centre for small businesses and a citizen service centre where residents can access a range of services from dog licences to property taxes.

This afternoon's reopening is the final chapter of almost a decade of debate.

The renovation issue first surfaced in 2000, when the city was dealing with housing its newly amalgamated staff. For years, council debated whether to renovate City Hall or tear it down and rebuild from scratch. It finally voted to renovate in 2005. Construction began in 2007.

For information about tours, the reopening ceremony and services, visit hamilton.ca or call 905-546-2489.'

Do you consider the City Hall renovation project a success?

Comments

[give me liberty]

Aren't you glad that next on the agenda is a stadium?!?!? I'm sure they'll use the same carpenter's union that they mystically got scammed into signing a deal with. To anyone who was upset that Hamilton didn't make the Canadian version of Monopoly... Relax we did, if you don't collect $200 and get sent to jail, you're home.

[ernest]

plz Gene 10's of thousands depend on us 9 to 5ver's.Tom..work nights thats more important because 10's of thousands need more,smokes and beer prices are going up.Frans...stop being logical.oh in case you didnt read the marble lines a ditch out in ancaster or someplace.plz make sure your taxes are on time and paid full.

[ed]

Not only did we get the same silly thing back that looks cheaper and no one will even know 80 million was spent, the concrete slabs are already starting to deteriorate. (go look) A total waste of effort and a sham, notice the tax increase squad is already starting to squawk, right on time. Wasn't it just last week councillors were upset we are the highest taxed. This election is the most important in years, I hope everyone isn't getting coldfeet on change.

[Mike Russell]

I don't see how anything has really changed with the building either esthetically or from a functionality perspective. I drive by the place and it looks like the same old run down dump it was. It's still only going to house about a quarter of city staff so it's still not adequate for the needs of this city.

I find it hard to believe, well maybe not, that council spent $75 million to maintain the status quo. If they had have taken this money along with the money wasted on the Lister project and added half as much again. We could have a building that would at least have housed all of the city staff in one location.

As it is now we are still going to be spending millions per year on rent that could have otherwise been spent on something that the city actually owns. This is just another example of the short sighted thinking that we are afflicted with at city hall.

[Brian Henley +]

I stand corrected - the minutes of the renovation committee are online ... now.
They certainly were not during the bulk of the effort.
My point stands though that the political leadership of Councillor Ferguson, in terms public consultation, was amateurish.
The project could have been more successfully achieved, with significantly more "buy-in" from the citizens if even a minor effort had been made to involve more input than was provided by staff and politicians. I still contend as well that this was an opportunity to upgrade, aesthetically, the land around the Hall.

[Tom Robertson]

The new Canadian 2010 version of the Monopoly board game has been announced and Hamilton wasn't deemed worthy to be one of the 22 cities represented. Maybe in 2020 version after they get a look at City Hall we might make the grade.

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

[Frans]

Well what is there to say. A heritage building with the actual heritage items, such as the marble cladding and stainless steel window frames (Hamilton steel Town) removed.
The City defying its own heritage policies to save a few dollars. A private citizen should try to do that, just imagine.
Also I do not believe that the $10 million for the landscaping is included in the budget mentioned.
In order to house all City staff the Listerblock is also being restored to house staff, cost around $25 million. That is a 100 million expended and still not all staff will have a space as additional office space is still required.

A success would have been to house all staff in one location for a cost of about $30 million. That would have been a success!

[Jafo]

The money spent on this renovation should have been spent in other ways. Every winter we hear of water mains bursting due to cold weather and old age. Roads need repairing (Parkdale, Melvin, Burlington, etc). Sidewalks are needed (north side of Barton St. east from Nash to Centennial for example).

That's just a few items and I'm sure there are other things the money could have been put to good use of.

[Cobie]

Folks, the minutes of the meetings are accessible, the budget was set before even the consultants had a contract in place, the final bill includes all costs, 6 mos ahead of schedule.. 6 mos ahead of schedule find another municiple project that has done that... anywhere? I suggest you spend more time getting the information rather than crying the blues. No claims, very limited legal fees and all info accessible to the public. just request it.

[Tom Robertson]

Gene...Those hours were so that all the city staff whose wages we pay could have the afternoon off.

[HARPER + MCGUINTY = HST SOCIALISM]

I don't care, I don't care about the next round of City Hall hopefuls either. To me, the very fact that they're anxious to win such a position highlights what type of person they are. This place is never going ANYWHERE. Enjoy your stadium and social (and corporate) assistance. I'm out of here as soon as I get a bit more cash in my pocket and meet a cute American girl. Mayor Fred was a do nothing bureaucrat just like Mayor Larry or Mayor Bob. Have you people really fooled yourselves into believing this is going to get any better? There's one thing you can count on: Regardless of what clown wins the king's throne at $#!tty hall, they will raise your taxes to cover the bloated excess of the municipal public sector. I'm tired of supporting HSR drivers who are paid $26-30 an hour so they can drive past my stop and throw me around with their careless braking. One driver was driving past me on more than one occasion. When I boarded at a different stop I scolded him, "When I'm standing at a bus stop, you stop the bus and let me on, understand?" This guy had the audacity to say, "So you're the boss now huh pal???" I need to get more for my dollars and this place NEVER has delivered once. Sorry for speaking the truth but I hope to leave this armpit quite soon. At least I'm apart of the solution by taking public transit, right Dalton?

[Dewie ©]

Once again the City of Hamilton has failed. Here was a chance to redefine the city & make some cosmetic changes to the landscape. Money issues to build a new City Hall don't fly with me. I'm sure some how some way it could have been done. The main fact is the building still looks like something Michael Brady drew up for the kids, cousin Oliver & Tiger the dog to gaze at. It looks dated. Heritage is one thing & the last time I checked the 60s weren't that far back. Even Marty McFly didn't visit the 60s but The City of Hamilton sure seems to be stuck there. Just another reason to make fun of Hamilton.

[HamitlonRes]

72 million for 430 staff? Thats over 167,000 dollars per staff memeber. Couldn't they have built something that would have housed more staff for that amount of money? It just seems like an absurd amount of money for only that many people.

[Brian Henley]

Hopefully, the 'nuts and bolts' of the project have been properly handled. The problem has been the political leadership of Councillor Ferguson who has failed miserably in communicating with the general public on the effort - no public advisory committee, no announcements of the times and locations of meetings of the renovation committee, no publicly accessible publication of minutes of said committee, limited interaction with the public generally (other than the Municipal Heritage Committee)and finally minimal public communication, updates, etc. about the project via the City's web site.
As the project entailed the major political and administrative building and surrounding public space in the city's possession, a more open and interactive communication process with the public was needed and was not provided.

[steve sheen]

Looks like a twin of the old one.Although it is a nice clean looking building, Just for once i would like to see new design in the city.

[Peter Michael]

If it really did come out under budget and ahead of schedule I'd consider the project a huge success. Achieving both of those is quite a rarity these days.

[Markalanwhittle]

Originally the price for a new city hall was $35 million, now we paid $70 million for an extreme home makeover run amok. The budget kept expanding so saying we came under budget is a joke, since it was never actually set.

[Gene Simmons]

The only thing that gets my goat is that the initial celebrations run from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. Um...I, like thousands of other taxpayers, have something called "a 9 to 5 job", making it impossible for me to attend...and very, very difficult for me to make it to the re-opening ceremony at 5.

[ed]

The bill went from 35 million to 72 million, a success for who? Does the final bill include consultants, lawyers and years of debate, don't think so.