Toxic lack of communication

(Excerpt from Susan Clairmont's column)

There is no complete list of vacant buildings in Hamilton.

Even if there were, city hall wouldn't share it with you.None of that gives comfort to residents of Hess Street North and Wentworth Street North who have just learned barrels of suspicious chemicals have been found rotting away on derelict industrial properties near their homes.

These neighbours are wondering why the city didn't know the chemicals were sitting there. And why officials haven't yet told them about the potentially hazardous materials that have been uncovered -- practically in their back yards.

Comments

[Peter Michael]

Amen Tad. Only thing you remember is that people first have to WANT to be able to help themselves. Many figure why bother when they can live off of our tax dollars...

[Tad Nugent]

@Michelle Hruschka
unless you're in a coma you can do something, i used to work for an "environmental" company working 12,14,16 hour days cleaning up industrial sites of all sorts of nasty things. It was hot, dirty backbreaking work that not everyone could do. Now i work online and make 5 times the money using only a keyboard, anyone could do it. If you can read and have a fingertip that is. Do you really think that most recipients (who are able bodied)need help on a steady basis? Not exploiters of a generous system.

[Michelle Hruschka]

Give you head a shake: Not everyone in our society can work for a variety of reasons.

So are you suggesting that if a person cannot work that they should be left with nothing.

[GiveYourHeadAShake]

"Just because they're metal barrels doesn't mean they're filled with toxic or hazardous materials."

Finally, thought I was the only one who thought that was quite presumptuous. The media always has to make people fear the worst.

"First I would like to offer that no person should be homeless, period."

I agree, but people have to earn a place to sleep, not simply be given handouts by the government.

Who gave the cave people homes in the early days? The government? They had to work for it and/or build it. We live among generation E - everyone thinks they should be entitled to everything they want.

"The goal is to be reached by 2020."

2020 AD?? We were supposed to have flying cars by 2010. A more realistic goal would be 2050.

[Tad Nugent]

A little presumptuous, no?
Just because they're metal barrels doesn't mean they're filled with toxic or hazardous materials. How about testing them and having it removed, they know who owns the property just send him the bill, preferably through the courts. Give the fire marshall more power. Instead of creating fear about unknown substances how about the media tells the public what toxic and hazardous actually means. Stelco, Dofasco and Columbian Chemicals(owned by union carbide) pollute the city at massive rates, but they get people worked up over a yard of drums that could be cleaned up in half a day.
You see the waste industry and the recycling industry are run by the same companys and both are equally corrupt. Its a business and all they care about is MONEY. Glad i'm out of it now. If recycling was about "saving the planet" why do recyclers pick and choose what they will take and what goes to the landfill and not take all that is recyclable? It doesn't make them enough money. Baaaah

[Michelle Hruschka]

First I would like to offer that no person should be homeless, period.

In fact one the goals of the future fund regarding Social Development is:

Everyone has a home that they can afford that is well maintained and safe.

The goal is to be reached by 2020.

People can be cut off welfare at the snap of the fingers for stupid policy, yet the powers to be allow for toxic waste to sit idle for years, they make deals on back taxes that disappear, these properties still vacant with no development, these business owners are not punished.

I ask where is the justice in our society that allows for those who are the most marginalized to be left with nothing, meanwhile the crooks get away with murder.

People please wake up, get your priorities straight in your mind, if we want to rebuild this community, then the people have to make our leaders and the bureaucrats accountable for the lousy, inept job they do.

[craig duvall]

ANY ONE WANT TO LISTEN?

[craig duvall]

As i have said once before,Councillor Scott Duvall,quoted in the Spec that having experience in the industrial field,being at the time Stelco, he knew of toxic waste dumps in the city, now a councillor, why is he so quiet about this,ask him in his next election campaign why he was mum on this when he states now heknows of this matter,election time is the time to ask questions and think, do u want to vote for someone like this to keep things from what u should know, ur right to know,what else is he hiding, i believe i can tell u.

[JR]

Hows this for investment, purchase a brownfield lot for 22,500 get relieved of 721,000 dollars in back taxes and penalties, sell off covered toxic waste storage for an undetermined amount, leave the country on "business" and later sell it back to city hall for a parking lot for the new stadium? Sure beats the stock market. What other toxic waste is being stored under the wall of barrels or on the property as described by a former employee seen on CHCH news.

[Gene Simmons]

Oh boy!! Heads are going to roll now...Sam Merulla is on the case!! He'd be better off expending his efforts on finding the derelict owner and taking him to task, in my opinion.

[nitroglycol]

I bet council is afraid that if they disclose the location of vacant buildings, homeless people will take advantage of the information to find places to squat. This doesn't justify it, of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's their real motivation.

[Keith]

The simple fact that the owner, city and ministry of the environment failed to ensure that the properties we DO know about were properly dealt with is the surest indication that we need to know about all the rest. How else are we to put pressure on those responsible to fulfill their obligations and protect us and our environment? Were it not for the actions of Matt Jelly, the status quo of inaction at the Hess Street site would be continuing today. How many other sites are being ignored? Our elected officials cannot be trusted to act without our scrutiny; we must demand that they give us the information we need to police them.

[gabbi]

the one issue I have with making vacant buildings public knowledge and that lies in the fact that it would lead to squatters and vandalism...more than normal.

And from that some dangerous situations...like fires and such..

However if a resident has justifiable reasons to know ...they should be able to find out thru some sort of process -

And vacant does not always mean a lag in their tax paying. Its cheaper for an owner to leave the building vacant than to rent it at a cheaper rate...or so I have been told.

[ernest]

@peter swire.cma ya lets just expose the garbageman to that little dropplet of mercury every day.hey why not put used intravenous needles in there to for him/her to get jabbed with too.throw in some shards of glass and some toluene based products for sniffing later.How bout some tainted blood samples to see if they can squirt on em too.Those barrels were known of and ignored for years.Why not just pour them down the sewer like so many have done in the past and present.Nobody will know it's ok.

[St]

I believe these derelict buildings with chemicals or not should be known to all through the media and should be cleaned asap and refurbished and used or just demolished for future use by a prospective buyer with some actual vision for the city.My question is there seems to be a lot of bylaw enforcement in this city,are the bylaw enforcement officers going to these derelict buildings and inspecting them or is this not part of their mandate.

[Peter Michael]

"None of that gives comfort to residents of Hess Street North and Wentworth Street North who have just learned barrels of suspicious chemicals have been found rotting away on derelict industrial properties near their homes."

Poor people, they were living happily until this news piece came out. If it had not been reported, they would have continued business as usual for decades to come...

[jeanette mcmanus]

judgeing by the rusted out barrels, this is defineatly not something new ,...makes you wonder if the depositors of this lot has given the property owners a back hander to take the haz waste?,...not nessesary from hamilton, more likely from somewhere over the border,.... customs should look into this situation,....enough already, hope the children have not been touching the barrels.

[ed]

So in other words, we're going to pay the eco tax to prop inept government regulation and enforcement. Not that I didn't know that already.

[Gene Simmons]

I find it hard to believe that the city doesn't know which buildings are vacant and which ones aren't...you would think the first clue would be the unpaid taxes. But I think Susan Clairmont tends to work herself up into these hysterical frenzies a little ahead of schedule...why don't we wait until the verdict is in.

[Peter Swire, CMA]

There is a gap in regulation for the storage of hazardous goods.

Yes, we are all taught many health and safety rules about how to handle the products when a business is running but nothing is taught to managers or staff when a business is wound up. If the owner abandons the business or it goes bankrupt, who deals with the chemical hangover. We should not merely focus on businesses but abandoned farms, homeowner garages and garden sheds as well.

Even if we inventory all old buildings, what will it achieve? If they are abandoned, the likelihood of extracting cash the owners through fines or court orders is remote.

The issue at hand is a mere symptom of a much larger issue. The return of empty, partially empty or full containers of goods that may be deemed hazardous is not working as current policy does not consider human behaviour.

Consider this for a moment.

Compact flourescent light bulbs were brought into the market to reduce greenhouse gas emissions only to triple the demand for mercury. This hazardous good contains droplets of mercury in them. In theory, I am to dispose of it responsibly by taking it to an approved recycler. Green garbage bag or drive several kilometers spewing out GHG from the car - which one to choose.

If hazardous goods were collected curbside, we would have very little stockpiled in residences and businesses as it would be convenient to dispose.

[ed]

Council knows about Carmens, whats in their bar fridge, how to make fools of themselves and when the queen is coming...very little else, you can add, how to get home, wouldn't want to short change them.