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Area Rating

Thursday, April 17, 2014

April 16, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Thursday, April 17, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, April 17, 2014

McHattie wants to immortalize Frankie ‘Venom’ with a statue

Mayoral candidate Brian McHattie wants the city to build a $200,000 memorial statue to Teenage Head singer Frankie “Venom” Kerr in Victoria Park.

Friday, October 25, 2013The money for the project has already been budgeted from Councillor McHattie’s $1.6-million area-rating fund for Ward 1. The city’s tourism and culture division is expected to issue an official “call for artists” proposal in June, with a winning submission ultimately selected by a citizen jury.

“The decision has been made,” McHattie said in an interview Friday. “We’re moving ahead. I can’t see any substantive problems.”

McHattie said Thursday he’d like to see at least a prototype completed in time for the 2015 Juno Awards in Hamilton next March. A public meeting will be held to gather more input this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Zion Korean United Recreation Centre, 69 Pearl St. N.

“I really like the idea of commemorating important Hamilton musicians using sculptures,” McHattie said. “Frankie would be the first one, the first of many we would have across the city. It fits in with the new music strategy of the city.”

According to a city staff report, the project, initiated by McHattie two years ago under the city’s “art in public places” program, was “enthusiastically supported” by a meeting of the Strathcona Community Council in November. “(Kerr) was one of Canada’s most influential punk rock musicians and inspired a generation of local and international musicians,” reads the city staff report submitted to the community council.

The proposed location for the memorial is in Victoria Park at the northwest corner of King and Locke streets on the city’s west side.

Thursday, November 28, 2013Kerr, who lived his later years near the park, died of throat cancer at the age of 52, in October 2008.

As the band’s front man, Kerr personified Canadian punk rock in the late ’70s and early ’80s with his notoriously raucous stage antics.

Teenage Head, which played its first show at Westdale High School in 1975, enjoyed popularity across Canada in the early ’80s with hits such as Let’s Shake and Somethin’ On My Mind. (Continued… Hamilton Spectator)

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Posted in: Hamilton Tagged: Area Rating, Brian McHattie, Editorial Cartoon, Frankie Kerr, Frankie Venom, Hamilton, Mayoral Race, Music, Public Art, statue, Teenage Head

Wednesday August 22, 2012

August 22, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday August 22, 2012

More rigour needed on ward spending

Back in 2011, Hamilton city council set out to slay the big scary dragon named area rating — the formal name for tax discrepancies in various parts of the city that date back to before amalgamation.

Council succeeded and struck an agreement, and part of that agreement resulted in Wards 1 through 8 in the so-called “old city” receiving equalization payments to offset paying artificially high taxes. Not everyone was happy, but it was a relatively constructive solution.

Fast forward, and we’re seeing how councillors plan to spend those “special capital levy” dollars. There are some surprises, some eyebrow-raisers and many common sense decisions. But there’s also a problem.

Traffic and pedestrian signals, sidewalk replacements, streetscape improvement, park improvements, road resurfacing and pedestrian walkways are all common uses for the money, which, for 2011 and 2012, amounts to approximately $1.26 million per ward.

Then there are the less common uses: Ward 4’s Sam Merulla wants to use the money to buy the notorious City Motor Hotel, with the innovative twist that once the site is redeveloped, some of the tax revenue generated will flow back into ward projects.

Ward 6’s Tom Jackson wants to buy the Barton Secondary School site to allow for more local control when the school becomes surplus. Creative to be sure, but should Ward 6 taxpayers be getting into the landlord business?

Ward 8’s Terry Whitehead has one of the more unusual plans — along with a number of infrastructure projects, he also wants to add $40,000 worth of golf simulation and instruction programming at the rebuilt Westmount Recreation Centre. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Posted in: Hamilton, Ontario Tagged: Area Rating, Bernie Morelli, Brian McHattie, Chad Collins, Hamilton, inflatable, Jason Farr, map, pool, Sam Merulla, slushie, swimming, Terry Whitehead

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This website contains satirical commentaries of current events going back several decades. Some readers may not share this sense of humour nor the opinions expressed by the artist. To understand editorial cartoons it is important to understand their effectiveness as a counterweight to power. It is presumed readers approach satire with a broad minded foundation and healthy knowledge of objective facts of the subjects depicted.

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