Hamilton

Saturday July 14, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday July 14, 2017

Councillors support fining trespassers at Albion Falls

City councillors want to start fining people who venture beyond new barriers at Albion Falls.

“At present I think because we’re not proactively enforcing the bylaw, people are not taking it seriously,” he told the meeting.

The enforcement blitz is expected to begin after “No Trespassing” signs are put up on newly installed top-of-gorge fencing.

Some of the fencing has already gone up, and the remainder is expected to be installed by the end of this weekend, weather permitting, said parks manager Kara Bunn.

The chain-link fencing, which is expected to cost Ward 6 Coun. Tom Jackson about $75,000 from his area-rating cash, is one of the new safety measures being implemented since a Toronto photographer lost his footing and plunged to his death at Albion Falls last month.

The city is also installing new “pictorial” signs that use symbols to ensure all visitors understand the risks of walking to the brink of the 20-metre-high gorge as well as ones with maps that show the parking lots, viewing platforms and authorized Red Hill Valley and Bruce Trail side trails.

Thursday’s motion directs Bunn to report back to the committee at the end of the summer season, updating councillors on how many tickets were handed out.

Bunn said she supports enforcement after the “No Trespassing” signs have gone up but that she will have to speak to the city’s bylaw department about exactly what it will look like. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Tuesday July 11, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday July 11, 2017

Giant $300k city hall sign on way

It’s taken a little longer than expected, but the mayor’s plan for a huge eye-catching sign on the forecourt of city hall is finally going before councillors.

Fred Eisenberger says the sign, which will spell “Hamilton” in giant illuminated letters, will cost $250,000 to $300,000 to build and install but taxpayers will pay “zero” for it.

“This is gift from the private sector to the City of Hamilton for Canada 150,” he said.

Just like the one they have in Toronto

The design will be unveiled at Thursday’s public works meeting. It’s based on similar letter signs in cities such as Toronto and Amsterdam where they’ve proven popular photographic backdrops for tourists and residents alike.

“I think the design is unique in the sense that it’s stylized, but it’s in that vein. It’s the ‘Hamilton’ name, nothing more dramatic than that. It’s a particular font with lighting capability and variable lighting options.”

“Wow factor” September 1, 2010

Eisenberger says the designer is local but declines to reveal the name until council has seen the report.

He’s also keeping the private donors under wraps until the initiative is approved. The plan is to honour them with name plaques attached to the letters.

Eisenberger revealed he was rounding up private funding for the sign as part of Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations at the annual Chamber of Commerce mayor’s breakfast in May. (Continued: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

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Wednesday June 28, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 28, 2017

Councillors vote to sell disputed Dundas alley

The city is poised to close and sell a controversial Dundas alley regularly used by school children despite increasingly loud opposition from local residents.

August 15, 2015

Members of the public works committee voted unanimously Monday to sell a short section of unserviced lane parallel to Sydenham Street to adjacent landowner Len Medeiros, a well-known Dundas developer whose construction company does sewer and water work for the city.

David Jones, a spokesperson for many residents opposed to the sale, said he would speak to a lawyer about what opportunities exist to appeal the decision. But he also expressed hope city council would reverse the decision in a final vote required Wednesday.

More than 30 people publicly urged councillors to reject the proposed sale Monday, with several complaining about what they saw as the city’s willingness to sell a public asset to a “well-connected” buyer over the objections of the larger community. Others suggested it was wrong to “reward” Medeiros after he previously paved a portion of the public alley without permission and briefly erected a fence to block pedestrian access last summer.

Medeiros declined an interview after the meeting, but Dundas Coun. Arlene VanderBeek publicly addressed allegations of favoritism ahead of Monday’s vote.

“There is no special privilege involved here, for anyone,” she said. “The issue of importance here is safety … safety for children and residents.”

VanderBeek pointed to the city staff report, which cited traffic department concerns with residents — particularly children — exiting the alley mid-block on Alma Street on the way to a nearby school. There is no sidewalk on that side of the street, she noted, and no safe path to the nearest intersection with a city crossing guard.

The city could be liable, she argued, if children are encouraged to “jaywalk to get where they want to go.”

Residents repeatedly argued the pedestrian-only lane was a safer, less dirty and noisy walking option than busier parallel streets like Sydenham. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

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Wednesday June 7, 2017

Illustration by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Hamilton’s Food Coat of Arms
Go Section, Wednesday June 7, 2017

Hamilton’s Food Coat of Arms

Anyone who meets me can tell I’m the sort of person who probably over indulges with food which may not necessarily be very the healthy. I love fried chicken and chips, smokey bbq’d pork, and grilled rib steak. My brain is wired to be stimulated regularly by taste bud receptors being in contact with cuisine flavours from around the world i.e.: coconut green curry, garam masala, chimichurri, pesto, Rending, Balsamic vinegar, tarragon and so on.

August 15, 2015

So when I was asked to illustrate a story on my hometown foods I was more than delighted to offer my service. Almost all of the foods follow in the tradition of being old favourites of this one time lunchbox city as chosen by Spectator readers. I’m certainly not one to stick my nose up at a maple dipped donut, roast beef on a bun or rotisserie chicken – admittedly, as a one time butcher, I’m not so fond of wiener meat found in hot dogs. Many of these classics go back decades in Hamilton and back in August of 2015, I illustrated another story which embraced the nostalgia of this city’s restaurant history.

Some people have pointed out that there’s no real healthy food on this current list. As if foods like kale and flax seed haven’t gotten enough coverage in recent years, we’re talking about favourite local foods in this story as voted by readers!

I think a glaring omission is the ever increasing availability of delicious ethic foods in Hamilton, particularly from Asia. Yes, there’s good representation from Italy with our love of pizza, and sausage, and wieners, and Kielbasa from Eastern Europe. But what about pho, vindaloo, tacos, and orange beef? Pardon this glaring endorsement, but I have eaten Indian food all over the world but nothing, and I mean nothing, comes close to the quality and yumminess served up at India Village in Dundas. You read about more of my local hits (and misses) through my TripAdvisor review account.

Perhaps this poll of favourite eats in Hamilton represents more of an older, nostalgic audience of locals. My bet is if a poll is taken a few years from now the sausages of this city will be in for a bigger challenge from the sushis.

Monday June 5, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday June 5, 2017

Hamilton is rebranding — and not as a bedroom community

Hey Toronto: Hamilton wants to be your business partner, not your bedroom community.

May 13, 2013

The sensitive topic came up repeatedly on the first day of the cheekily named Hamilton Consulate event on Queen Street West, which is using panel discussions, music, fashion showcases and even business-oriented speed dating to “rebrand” the city in the eyes of Toronto investors.

The city’s white-hot real estate market was a popular talking point — particularly a local realtor’s study that suggests priced-out Toronto residents were responsible for a quarter of Hamilton home sales in the first three months of the year.

But well-known GTA developer Brad Lamb, an event panellist who has pitched a 600-unit, two-tower condo project on the former CHCH property, found himself clarifying quotes attributed to him in a Toronto magazine declaring Hamilton is destined to become a “suburb to Toronto.”

The self-proclaimed Toronto condo king told concerned Hamilton boosters he was taken out of context.

August 14, 2007

“I would never call Hamilton a bedroom community. I don’t develop in bedroom communities … I like Hamilton because it’s a city,” said Lamb, who added he is considering four possible Hamilton condo and rental projects in the downtown worth more than $1 billion, including at least one 300-unit tower on Main Street.

(He said his other contentious quote about a “dying city” was meant to refer to Hamilton as a past industrial powerhouse.)

Lamb, nonetheless, maintains newcomers to Hamilton who continue to work in Toronto will be “part of the recipe of success” for the growing city. That continued population growth — he sees Hamilton topping a million people faster than provincial projections — is also critical for economic development, he argued.

“Intercity migration is going to take place. Some of those people are going to have great jobs in Toronto and they’re going to keep those jobs … I think that is a viable lifestyle, especially with the GO train,” he said.

City planning head Jason Thorne said there’s no doubt there will be “more fluidity between where people live and work in future.”

But he argued Hamilton is “in no danger” of becoming a suburb of Toronto. He said past studies show only a “pretty small fraction” of local commuters actually travel outside the Hamilton-Burlington area. (Continued: Hamilton Spectator)