downtown – mackaycartoons

Tuesday December 6, 2016

December 5, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

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)

Saturday, July 5, 2014

July 5, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

By 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)

Saturday January 18, 2014

January 18, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial 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)

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

November 5, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

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

Downtown business owners singing the bus-lane blues

Two 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)