facade – mackaycartoons

Tuesday August 16, 2016

September 12, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday August 16, 2016

Trump suggests Hillary’s been sick for a while as he prepares to release ‘very, very specific’ numbers from his latest physical – on Dr. Oz’s show

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested that Hillary Clinton has been sick for a while, pointing to her coughing fit last week as evidence that ‘something’s going on.’

‘I really just don’t just know. I hope she gets well soon. I don’t know what’s going on,’ Trump said when asked about it on ‘Fox and Friends’ Monday morning.

He wished Clinton well after her weekend health scare – and revealed he is preparing to release detailed results of his own physical on Thursday.

The big reveal will come on Dr. Mehmet Oz’s TV show, according to a report from the Fox News Channel.

Trump’s campaign said last week that he would share his ‘health regimen’ with the Tv doc, but the planned appearance has gained new significance in the wake of Hillary’s collapse on Sunday.

Trump was uncharacteristically silent – including on Twitter – on Sunday, even as Clinton was spirited away from a Sept. 11th ceremony in New York, where was captured on video stumbling on the way to her van before her campaign finally revealed she had been diagnosed with pneumonia.

Then he brought up Clinton’s prolonged coughing allergy last week, which Clinton jokingly chalked up to a Trump allergy.

‘The coughing fit was a week ago, so I assume that was pnemonia also. I would think it would have been. So something’s going on.’

Trump also attended the ceremony in New York, but without incident.

‘I just hope she gets well and gets back on the trail and we’ll be seeing her at the debate,’ he added.

Trump indicated he’ll be putting out detailed results about his own health.

‘I think it’s an issue. In fact, this last week I took a physical,’ he said. ‘I’ll be releasing – when the numbers come in, hopefully they’re gonna be good, I think they’re gonna be good. But when the numbers come in, I’ll be really very, very specific numbers, Trump said.

To date Trump, 70, has only released a short letter from a doctor, who the Clinton campaign has noted is not an internist but a gastroenterologist. The letter stated he would be the ‘healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.’

Clinton will be 69 when she takes office if elected. (Source: Daily Mail)

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)

Saturday March 28, 2009

March 28, 2009 by Graeme MacKay

March 28, 2009

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday March 28, 2009

City Hall’s marble: A short history

* There are 3,000 marble slabs totalling 30,000 square feet covering City Hall. They measure approximately 60 centimetres by 120 cm.

* The gold-veined Cherokee marble used at City Hall was quarried in Pickens County, Georgia, the same county that produced the marble for the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial.

* In 1958, architect Stanley Roscoe caused an uproar when he chose Georgia marble instead of stone from Ontario or Quebec. He said the design at City Hall was predicated on the use of the white marble. After much debate about whether local stone should be used, city council approved the use of Georgia marble by a 13-6 vote.

* The first shipment of the Georgia marble was deemed “unsatisfactory” because it was the wrong colour. Roscoe paid a visit to the quarry in late 1958 to ensure the rest of the marble was up to standard.

* On May 16, 1960, the day City Hall opened to the public, two marble slabs fell from the building. One, which weighed 275 kilograms, crashed onto the roof of the second floor. The other landed on the second-floor canopy. The problem was blamed on “faulty craftsmanship.”

* On Feb. 6, 1963, two more slabs fell after water seeped behind the marble and rusted the metal hooks supporting the slabs.

* In 1969, when council allotted $136,000 for repairs to the marble, city architect Alex German suggested taking down each marble slab, “making them into coffee tables and selling them. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Letters to the editor:

I’ve said in past blog entries that often the only feedback I ever get on any of my cartoons is whenever somebody has taken great offense to whatever I’ve drawn and feel the need to convey their anger to me.

My most recent cartoon focusing on the sad saga of Hamilton’s City Hall reno drew the ire of a close relative to the architect of the building, Stanley Roscoe, who phoned to ask what gives me “the nerve to be an architectural critique”.

What gives anyone the right to be an architectual critic? Are only learned experts of the field entitled to pass judgement on architecture in high brow periodicals? Can’t the unwashed masses who can’t tell a cupola from a corbel air their own feelings about the concrete monsters they have to share this planet with?

Anyway, I’ve posted the original sketch I was going to go with and tempered the farting base ass imagery with a giant toilet. My apologies for the loooong gap between blog entries. I’ll keep trying to keep this thing up to date.