Saturday August 19, 2017

August 18, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday August 19, 2017

Up to $10,000 fine for waterfall trespassers requiring rescue

The city will seek fines of up to $10,000 for trespassers requiring a rope rescue at Hamilton waterfalls.

August 9, 2017

“Anyone who is a repeat trespasser or causes a rope rescue will be issued a court appearance and we will be seeking a higher fine,” said city spokesperson Ann Lamanes.

Bylaw enforcement officers went to the hospital and issued a Part 3 summons to a hiker rescued Wednesday at Albion Falls while the woman was still being treated for minor injuries.

The summons is a more serious charge than the standard $135 provincial offences notice given to 51 trespassers at Albion Falls since heightened enforcement began July 17.

Of those notices, 15 were given out the same day the woman was rescued. She was singled out for the summons because she required help. She will now have to appear in court and faces a potentially larger fine of up to $10,000 if convicted.

July 14, 2017

“The person that was rescued required the emergency services team to respond for over two hours to get her out of a prohibited area,” Lamanes said. “We have laid a more severe charge because of the impact this offender has had on emergency services and city resources.”

Less than two hours after the city announced it had issued the summons Thursday, a hiker required emergency help at Tew Falls in Dundas just after 4 p.m. A rope rescue was not required, but the woman was carried out in a basket.

The Hamilton Fire Department has expressed concern in the past about charging trespassers for the cost of rope rescues for fear it will deter those in trouble from calling for help. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

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Saturday January 21, 2017

January 20, 2017 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 21, 2017

Music-on-patio plan tabled

City councillors don’t like the sound of a plan to allow musical entertainment on nightclub patios.

July 31, 2014

A pilot project was tabled Tuesday by the city’s planning committee that would have allowed bar owners to feature ambient music on patios in seven districts in the city, some golf courses and other locations in rural areas.

Councillors decided to deal with the issue at a later date after raising concerns about the potential impact on people who live nearby.

Others said it would be unfair to bar patio owners outside the designated districts on James Street North, Hess Village, the bayfront, Augusta Street, part of Upper James Street and Dundas.

Coun. Brenda Johnson said she had concerns about the plan in rural areas because sound can travel great distances in undeveloped landscapes.

Coun. Jason Farr supported the idea, saying it was consistent with Hamilton’s desire to brand itself as a music city.

The noise level would be kept to 60 decibels, which is the same volume as a discussion at an average planning committee meeting, Farr added. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Saturday August 15, 2015

August 14, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday August 15, 2015

Dundas filming ban lifted with limitations

A petition created on Thursday to end the moratorium — that is now not a moratorium — on filming in Dundas has exceeded its original goal of 1,000 signatures.

After six days its new target is 2,000.

Petition creator and Dundas local Kevin Ramage, 32, is trying to set up a meeting with Coun. Arlene VanderBeek to give the community a voice.

He set out to speak to locals and business owners to get a grasp on how they feel about the original ban, and new case-by-case limitations.

Meanwhile, the properties that were originally flagged as temporarily unavailable on the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) website now have a new message.

After VanderBeek released her statement of “re-examination,” Susan Monarch, manager of tourism Hamilton, told The Spectator on Aug. 7 the wording on OMDC files were changed to say there may be limitations, and if interested in the property to contact the film office.

There are three check marks available on the OMDC listings — not available, available and caution — Monarch said.

Ramage reached out to VanderBeek Tuesday to set up a meeting, hoping to present his findings, but he has not yet received a response.

“None of the businesses that I spoke to, and that signed the petition, had any knowledge that a moratorium or filming limitations were ever going to be put in place,” he wrote in the statement.

Most business owners pulled Ramage into their back rooms, speaking to him at length about their thoughts on the issue. He said business owners either found out about the changes from customers coming in and asking them why they didn’t want production in town, or from the media.

“They were not pleased about the lack of community involvement on the issue.”

The decision for the moratorium, and now limitations, were made following discussions with the city’s film office staff, some residents and the BIA board of directors, which includes VanderBeek. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Saturday April 4, 2015

April 2, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday April 4, 2015

City trashes Good Samaritan for downtown parking lot cleanup

Ted Pundey didn’t expect to be paid for his volunteer cleanup — but he certainly didn’t expect to be fined.

Tired of looking out his downtown condo window at a parking lot full of trash (one the city says has been identified as an illegal dumping “hot spot”), he decided on Tuesday to clean up the mess near King William and John streets himself.

But the intended good deed cost him $125 after he was slapped with a fine by bylaw officers who had witnessed the cleanup — one they alternatively call “illegal dumping.”

“They caught me cleaning,” Pudney — a CBC video editor in Toronto — said Wednesday. When three officers had showed up he was pleased, assuming they were there to help.

But when they handed him a ticket, he was baffled — for one, this wasn’t even his garbage. And he’d stacked the boxes just metres from where he’d collected the trash. In doing so, the city says, he crossed an invisible line in the lot, from private property to a public alleyway portion.

“We have no issues with anybody helping to clean up a property, but if someone is disposing what they’re cleaning up off that property onto city property … then the taxpayer ends up paying for that,” the city’s municipal law enforcement manager Kim Coombs says.

Pudney — who moved from Toronto three months ago — didn’t realize the distinction: “I was doing this strictly to be a good guy. I had no agenda, other than that the area needs some attention.”

He’d purposely stacked the boxes against a posted sign in the alley, advertising designated pick-up times between 10 a.m. and noon on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Friday, July 26, 2013

July 26, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday July 26, 2013

Heritage requirement a pain in the glass for Burrito Boyz

The same Gore Park storefront that sat empty this time last year is now filled with daily diners, but the city’s focus is on the façade they say doesn’t fit with the character of the area.

Burrito Boyz, which opened in November 2012, was ordered to increase their glass frontage from 28 per cent to 80 per cent to obtain their establishment licence.

Leanne Dielschneider, who co-owns the business with Viktor Stosic, said they’re still paying off startup costs including more than $150,000 to renovate 66 King St. E. (which they rent). Extra façade work is an expense they hadn’t planned for.

Dielschneider, 27, said she and Stosic were aware of the glazing requirement (which falls under downtown heritage character guidelines) when they began renovations, but they were also trying to match the look of Burrito Boyz locations throughout Toronto.

She thought the city would be satisfied when they saw a bustling restaurant. Instead, she and Stosic received a notice two weeks after opening.

“I was told it was hard to open a business in Hamilton,” says Dielschneider, who grew up in Stoney Creek. “I was warned about that … It’s been a smooth ride other than this.”

Dielschneider said she understands the necessity of heritage policies, but finds the glazing issue insignificant compared to the benefits of having business in what was an abandoned space.

She pointed out other buildings within the Downtown Heritage Character Zone, which stretches along Gore Park from James to Wellington. (According to the city’s website, the zone guidelines are meant to be “a city building tool to protect built heritage resources and character in the downtown.”) (Source: The Hamilton Spectator)