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Saturday June 11, 2022

June 11, 2022 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 11, 2022

A toast to bad roads and integrity

Today, a little positivity seems in order. And so, two tips of the proverbial chapeau.

February 13, 2015

First, to the Canadian Automobile Association, which just released its annual worst roads in Ontario report. Not because Hamilton gets top billing, as home of the worst road in the province — Barton Street East. And not because the report also has a regional component which tells us the worst roads in Hamilton are Barton East, Aberdeen Avenue, Burlington Street East, Upper James and Rymal Road East.

Anyone who drives the city will confirm that these are among the worst, although there are just so many to choose from.

May 19, 2021

No, we raise a glass to the CAA because its annual report is so useful in many ways. It keeps the state of our roads on the public and government radar. It is holistic in the sense that it doesn’t just ask drivers to vote, it includes pedestrian and cyclists. Too often city streets are judged too much on the whims of motorists, when those arteries are so much more.

The CAA’s report is also a good reality check. You don’t have to look far to find a Hamiltonian who will swear that this city’s roads are simply the worst anywhere. No doubt it seems that way sometimes, but the report’s wide lens confirms that road conditions are terrible in many if not most Ontario cities. Toronto and Prince Edward County are other municipalities that made the worst-of-the-worst list again this year.

March 30, 2022

The truth is that nearly all Ontario cities, especially the older ones like Hamilton, have brutal infrastructure deficits, and roads figure prominently. Municipal governments, ours included, are always running behind trying to keep up. Using the Barton Street example, city hall has plans to spend $7.5 million over the next two years on Barton area streets and sidewalks. By the time that is done, there will be another street on the worst-of list, and more competing demands for money and resource time to fix them.

Not to let city hall off the hook entirely, but it’s worth bearing in mind that our worst roads are often in the industrial heartland of the city, where heavy truck traffic takes its toll more than where traffic is largely residential and commercial. Upper James may be an exception to a point, although it too carries its share of heavy truck traffic across the top of the city to downtown.

A final note: We also love the CAA roads report because it never fails to generate lots of reader comments and letters. We can’t get too many of those, so thanks CAA. See you next year. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

L E T T E R  to the  E D I T O R

Letter to the Editor, The Hamilton Spectator, June 16, 2022

Hamilton’s future

Letter to the Editor, The Hamilton Spectator, June 16, 2022

I am very disappointed in both The Spectator for printing Graeme MacKay’s Saturday editorial cartoon and in Mr. MacKay for creating it. First, to The Spectator — Hamilton is actually part of your newspaper’s name. Too bad you do not accurately promote the city.

But mostly my disappointment is with Mr. MacKay whom I thought would have better knowledge of the LRT project which is such a vital part of Hamilton’s future. I’m pretty sure he actually lives in the area and should be better informed.

The many misinformed who are anti-LRT never did get the fact that a very vital part of the LRT construction is to repair aging infrastructure along the LRT route. These repairs and the LRT project overall will take the city into a much better future. And the monetary value of LRT (business, taxes, etc.) will take care of some potholes, too.

Jane Slote, Hamilton

 

Posted in: Hamilton Tagged: 2022-19, Budget, construction, downtown, Feedback, Hamilton, letter, LRT, neglect, pothole, repairs, roadways

Tuesday December 6, 2016

December 5, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Tuesday December 6, 2016 New push to add LRT stop at Bay Street A late plea for a Bay Street LRT stop is one of several requested route changes project planners will chew on before spitting out a final design next spring. The city's light rail transit stakeholder committee will formally receive a letter from the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce Nov. 29 asking for a Bay Street stop on the east-west leg of the planned $1-billion LRT line. "It is not a stretch to assume that the Bay Street Station would immediately become the second-busiest station between the two end nodes of the B-line," reads the letter signed by representatives from large downtown players such as McMaster University, the art gallery, Carmen's Group and Vrancor. The city and project lead Metrolinx need to submit an updated environmental assessment Ñ including a finalized route Ñ to the province for approval next spring. But there is still time to consider "reasonable" change requests based on public feedback, said city LRT point person Paul Johnson. "We are looking at a number of requests now, things like pedestrian crossings, intersection changes and yes, stop locations," he said. "Just don't ask us to move the whole thing to Main Street. No, we are not going to look at that.Ó Johnson said public suggestions to date have already resulted in a relocated stop to the border of the International Village. Planners are also revisiting the possibility of a Gage Avenue stop based on a "surprisingly strong" reaction from the public. Similarly, businesses in the International Village have convinced planners to scope out an additional pedestrian crossing along that section of the King Street line. Other merchants have helped tweak partial intersection and street closures. Johnson wouldn't comment on the likelihood of Bay Street being adopted as a new stop, but noted there are some challenges to adding any new stop. It costs "a few million doll

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday December 6, 2016

New push to add LRT stop at Bay Street

A late plea for a Bay Street LRT stop is one of several requested route changes project planners will chew on before spitting out a final design next spring.

The city’s light rail transit stakeholder committee will formally receive a letter from the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce Nov. 29 asking for a Bay Street stop on the east-west leg of the planned $1-billion LRT line.

“It is not a stretch to assume that the Bay Street Station would immediately become the second-busiest station between the two end nodes of the B-line,” reads the letter signed by representatives from large downtown players such as McMaster University, the art gallery, Carmen’s Group and Vrancor.

The city and project lead Metrolinx need to submit an updated environmental assessment — including a finalized route — to the province for approval next spring. But there is still time to consider “reasonable” change requests based on public feedback, said city LRT point person Paul Johnson.

“We are looking at a number of requests now, things like pedestrian crossings, intersection changes and yes, stop locations,” he said. “Just don’t ask us to move the whole thing to Main Street. No, we are not going to look at that.”

Johnson said public suggestions to date have already resulted in a relocated stop to the border of the International Village. Planners are also revisiting the possibility of a Gage Avenue stop based on a “surprisingly strong” reaction from the public.

Similarly, businesses in the International Village have convinced planners to scope out an additional pedestrian crossing along that section of the King Street line. Other merchants have helped tweak partial intersection and street closures.

Johnson wouldn’t comment on the likelihood of Bay Street being adopted as a new stop, but noted there are some challenges to adding any new stop.

It costs “a few million dollars” to add a platform and amenities along a typical LRT line, he said. But he added potential intersection changes and land purchases can inflate the “real cost” dramatically.

The light rail transit line is also meant to be an express service, with an average distance between stops of about 800 metres. Project planners are aiming for peak period wait times of six minutes.

Stops at Queen Street, Bay and James would represent some of the shortest distances between platforms along the route, Johnson said, in some cases under 400 metres.(Source: Hamilton Spectator)

 

Posted in: Hamilton Tagged: Bay Street, downtown, Hamilton, Jackson Square, James Street, LRT, mass transit, Rapid Transit, Sheraton, transportation

Saturday, July 5, 2014

July 5, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Saturday, July 5, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, July 5, 2014

Downtown task force seeks better ‘nuisance’ enforcement

The city’s downtown task force is looking into how to better enforce nuisance bylaws after a downtown property owner has formally complained about loitering.

Staff are looking at establishing a three-year pilot project between municipal law enforcement and Hamilton police to have staff dedicated to enforcing nuisance bylaws in the core.

Irene Hubar of Argon Properties Ltd. says it has been hard to attract new tenants to her property at 35 King St. E. — the former Right House — because of drug use and other unsavoury activities regularly taking place out front.

In a recent delegation to the Task Force on Cleanliness on Security in the Downtown Core, Hubar said that in addition to “visible” drug use, people have also been caught spitting on the sidewalk, urinating on the street and overflowing the garbage cans.

Knowing they can’t be forced to leave, loiterers use the bus stop as way to hang out there, she said.

Randy Gordon (who Councillor Jason Farr notes is a security guard for the building) says he’s caught people shooting up in the building.

Farr — who sits on the task force — says nuisance bylaws are already in place but that it’s a matter of enforcing them tactfully.

“I was of humble means my entire young life. You can’t judge a person by the cut of their jib,” he said, cautioning there are human rights issues that must be taken into consideration.

“We need to make sure we don’t prejudice any one segment of society … that’s crucial to me.”

At the same time, Farr said the property owners have “valid concerns” about illicit behaviour outside their doors.

“You have laws and bylaws in place for a reason … absolutely, we should do what we can to mitigate the issues.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

 

Posted in: Hamilton Tagged: civility, downtown, Editorial Cartoon, Hamilton, profanity

Saturday January 18, 2014

January 18, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Saturday January 18, 2014Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 18, 2014

Delta Bingo hall to call its last numbers downtown Sunday

Delta Bingo in downtown Hamilton is closing its doors for good Sunday night after the last game is played.

There are messages announcing the closure on its website and at the location.

Councillor Jason Farr, who represents the ward where Delta Bingo has operated for years, says the city was told by its owner, Bee Eye & Gee Oh, that Delta will close and the company will concentrate on converting its St. Catharines and Fort Erie halls to electronic, or e-Bingo.

About 30 charities that fundraised through bingo events at Delta are affected.

“It means charities will have to be creative and find another way to raise that $10,000,” said Farr.

Delta Bingo has been operating in the old Kresge department store at 45 King St. E. on property leased from a numbered Ontario company. Land registry documents list developer Ralph Frisina as president. He could not be reached for comment.

Farr said there are no redevelopment plans for the site that he’s aware of.
Chuck Lemenchick, who identified himself as a company director, confirmed Bee Eye & Gee Oh is focusing on its bingo halls outside of Hamilton.

Delta’s demise doesn’t come as a surprise to local charities that used it for years, because the amounts of money raised have dwindled.

Neighbour 2 Neighbour, which started bingos at Delta in July and was making $1,000 a month, is “more than disappointed,” said executive director Denise Arkell.

“We were really counting on that as a constant source of income to support our food bank.”

Stephen Near, of the Hamilton Arts Council, said bingo revenue for the not-for-profit council has dropped 83 per cent from $26,000 five years ago. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Posted in: Hamilton Tagged: Bingo, Delta Bingo, downtown, Editorial Cartoon, Gambling, Hamilton, Kresge's

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

November 5, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

Tuesday, November 5, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Downtown business owners singing the bus-lane blues

For SaleTwo weeks after the opening of a new bus-only lane through Hamilton’s core, downtown merchants say their worst fears have been realized.

Business operators have expressed a fear throughout the transit experiment that making it tougher for cars to navigate the core will keep people out of their stores — and that’s what they fear is starting to happen.

Barry Sobel, whose Rainbow Bridal has been a King Street fixture for 36 years, said he is already hearing from longtime customers that traffic congestion resulting from the bus lane is keeping them out of the core, especially on weekdays.

“Saturday isn’t so bad, traffic is moving well, but at 11 a.m. on a weekday cars will be backed up all the way to Wellington,” Sobel said in an interview Saturday. “During weekdays, traffic is backed up as far as I can see.”

Late in October the city launched a one-year pilot project to test the effect on traffic congestion in the core from converting one lane of King to transit-only. The far right lane of King between Mary and Dundurn streets is now buses-only except for cars trying to turn right.

The experiment is being viewed as a test of the impact of a proposed light rapid transit rail line through the area. Provincial transit agency Metrolinx has put $300,000 into the project.

Backers of the plan say it has the potential to increase business for core-area merchants by slowing traffic, giving drivers a chance to look around and maybe discover a downtown shop they didn’t know existed.

“It gives people a chance to see that dress in the window or that guitar in the pawnshop,” said downtown Councillor Jason Farr. “This plan was well thought out but it’s also a pilot project and we know that means it will have to be tweaked a little.”

Sobel, however, wonders how potential customers are going to see the perfect wedding dress in his window if they drive Hunter or Cannon streets to avoid congestion in the core.

That also worries pawnbroker Troy Thompson, who operates G.W. Thompson Jeweller and Pawnbrokers with his father, Gord.

“It’s bad now and it’s only going to get worse,” he said. “We’re starting to hear a lot more horns honking through the week because people are getting frustrated and they’re starting to take the back roads around downtown.”

Sobel’s store, between Catharine and John streets is right at the start of the restricted lane while Thompson’s is east of the start. Farther west, at Rolly Rocket’s BBQ at King and Locke, owner Roland Dube said the restricted lane has created some confusion among his customers who were used to parking on the north side of King. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Posted in: Hamilton Tagged: bottlenecks, downtown, Editorial Cartoon, Hamilton, HSR, print sale, Transit
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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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