Hamilton

Wednesday April 29, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 29, 2020

The future of our watershed is far from assured

Look, it’s another non-COVID-19 editorial! That’s right, we wanted to give you a break from nonstop pandemic news and commentary. We know that can get heavy.

November 26, 2019

So instead, let’s talk about the state of Cootes Paradise, Chedoke Creek and Hamilton’s watershed in general. That’s bound to lighten your mood. Not.

A new report from the City of Hamilton says no special cleanup or monitoring of the Cootes Paradise marsh is called for as a result of the now infamous 24-billion-litre sewage leak known as Sewergate.

Before you utter a collective sigh of relief, let’s be clear: That doesn’t mean the protected marsh area is fine. It’s not. And common sense suggests the extra billions of litres of sewage leaked over more than four years into Chedoke Creek, which drains into the marsh, did not help matters. 

December 7, 2019

According to a report from The Spectator’s Matthew Van Dongen, the report by SLR Consulting concludes there was no lasting damage to the marsh from the sewage spill, but it also observes that it’s hard to know where any specific piece of pollution is coming from, because there are so many sources. Well, that’s a relief.

Hamilton Coun. Maureen Wilson rightfully referred to the situation as a “damning indictment” of how the city has treated Cootes through history, allowing it to become dirty nearly beyond redemption prior to efforts in the last two decades to reclaim the marsh.

Progress has certainly been made, but the reality is that Cootes remains painfully polluted, not only by sewage but also by leachate from old landfill sites and toxic-run-off from highways, parking lots and other sources.

November 27, 2019

Back to the report for a bit. The consultant’s view is not necessarily and final word. The Royal Botanical Gardens, which owns the marsh, is studying the report, and while there is no final determination, there are hints the RBG may not agree with the report’s findings. The RBG’s Nick Kondrat told Van Dongen: “ … our initial assessment is that we strongly believe that additional analysis is required to evaluate the severity of the damage” from the spill.

The provincial Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks has also yet to pass judgment, and it may differ from the consultant when it comes. It will also determine whether any aspect of the spill broke the law. If it did, charges against the city could follow.

The Hamilton Spectator

But suppose the provincial ministry report doesn’t amount to much. And suppose the RBG’s findings and recommendations aren’t conclusive. Where does that leave us? 

As much as we like to use the Sewergate label — The Spec did coin the phrase and break the story, after all — the spill and its fallout are not the most important issue at hand. What matters more is where we go from here. 

Are we satisfied with the status quo, with ongoing cleanup efforts that have delivered laudable but not conclusive results?

Cootes is still receiving pollution from so many sources pollutants can’t be traced to any one source. Chedoke Creek’s bed is layered with contaminated sludge. Major weather events, of which we are having more and more, still result in sewage holding tank overflow that leaks into the marsh, harbour and lake. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)



 

Thursday April 16, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday April 16, 2020

LRT versus BRT showdown coming to Hamilton

Thanks to the provincially appointed transportation task force, it appears we’re heading into a final showdown over whether LRT or BRT is the best rapid transit system for Hamilton.

February 1, 2020

The task force, formed after the Doug Ford government killed the planned LRT project, says the province and its transportation agency Metrolinx should now consider both systems equally and analyze which best deserves the $1 billion in capital funding that was originally earmarked for light rail.

If neither are feasible, the task force suggests plowing the money into two-way, all-day GO rail service to Hamilton.

If nothing else, there’s a kind of poetic if rough justice in all this. 

There’s always been a strong sense among light rail opponents that the bus rapid transit option was previously given short shrift by both Metrolinx and city staff.

Certainly the city’s 2008 rapid transit feasibility study discussed both systems. But Metrolinx’s 2010 case-benefit analysis basically sidelined the BRT option by concluding LRT delivered the highest economic development bang for the buck.

The problem was that a lot of Hamiltonians felt — and still feel — that the pros and cons of both systems were never fairly compared and publicly debated.

That was supposed to happen after the 2014 municipal election. It didn’t. You may recall that back then Fred Eisenberger ran for mayor on a platform that included a promise to create a citizens’ panel to study all rapid transit options and make a recommendation to council.

Coronavirus cartoons

Instead, brief months after he was elected, Eisenberger hotfooted it to Queen’s Park for private meetings with then-premier Kathleen Wynne and transport minister Steven Del Duca, at which he successfully secured provincial dollars for LRT.

In May of 2015, Wynne came to town to announce the province was providing $1 billion in capital funding. Eisenberger’s proposed citizens’ panel was reduced to window dressing. BRT supporters were suddenly marooned.

It’s been anything but smooth sailing for LRT supporters since then, of course. But no matter how controversial the issue, no matter how many stops, starts and delays the project has experienced, LRT has been the only option on the table.

Until Ford came along, that is. 

During the 2018 provincial election, Ford threw things into a tizzy by offering to let Hamilton council spend the $1 billion on other transit and infrastructure projects. It’s often forgotten, but in the heat of that election New Democrat leader and Hamilton MPP Andrea Horwath said an NDP government would also give council the option to spend the money on other transit projects.

Neither the mayor nor council seriously pursued the offer after Ford was elected. A few months later, it was taken out of their hands. The province cancelled the project because of projected cost overruns and then created the task force.

So now BRT is back on the menu as a main course not just a rejected entree.

Briefly, the task force suggests the BRT option could follow both the B-Line corridor from McMaster to Eastgate and the north-south A-Line corridor from the waterfront to the airport. Recommendations include fully dedicated bus lanes and platform boarding.

For LRT, the task force suggests if there is insufficient funding for the Mac to Eastgate route, phasing should be explored, and the province should look to Ottawa and city council for extra funding.

It’s not clear, of course, how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact the recommendation that, regardless which system wins out, the contract should be awarded or construction begin within two years.

It’s also not clear if or how COVID-19 will impact the social patterns and policy assumptions that sustain rapid transit systems.

Frankly, it’s an open question whether urban intensification, highrise living and the growth of public transit will be as appealing in a post-COVID world leery of future virus lockdowns, compared to the lure of backyards and the self-isolation of cars. (Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Saturday February 22, 2020

February 22, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 22, 2020

Déjà vu: Commonwealth Games bid feels awfully familiar

There were two significant obstacles standing in Hamilton’s way back in 2002 when the city was lobbying to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games — New Delhi was pushing hard to get the event and Vancouver was in full-court-press mode for the Winter Olympics.

July 25, 2007

The former was a problem because the Commonwealth Games had never been held in India while Canada had hosted four times. The latter was an issue, many experts said, because two multi-sport Games wouldn’t be given to the same country in the same year. The Commonwealth variety would be massively overshadowed by the Olympics.

Whether these folks were prescient or simply guessed well, they turned out to be correct. Vancouver won the right to host the Olympics and Commonwealth voters awarded their Games to India shortly thereafter.

Fast forward 18 years.

From “You Might Be From Hamilton If…”

An organizing group called Hamilton100 is now pushing forward with a pitch to host the 2030 Games on the one-century anniversary of our hosting the British Empire Games, the precursor to the modern Commonwealth Games. Meanwhile, in a crazy twist, New Delhi says it’s interested in hosting again that year (or 2026). And the guy who ran Vancouver’s wildly successful Olympics told that city’s Board of Trade on Thursday that it should launch a bid to host again in 2030 since it already has most of the infrastructure in place.

In a flash, 2020 has become 2002 all over again.

Sort of. (Continued: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Saturday February 1, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 1, 2020

Hamilton transit task force secrecy is an embarrassment

Hamilton LRT Gallery

Whichever side of the Light Rail Transit debate you stand on, you should not be happy or satisfied by the Ford government’s decision to have its transit task force operate behind closed doors. In secret. With no transparency, and no opportunity for the public (or its proxy, the media) to observe the task force at work.

This task force was thrown together by Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney after the province abruptly cancelled Hamilton’s long-planned LRT line, right in the middle of construction bidding.

The purpose of the task force appears to be to lend the optics of objectivity to the process. It’s widely recognized that the math used by the province to justify the decision is fake, and any real cost overruns wouldn’t be out of line with overruns on other similar transit projects that are going ahead, while Hamilton’s got summarily cancelled.

It’s more than a bit odd to have a hand-picked group of non-elected citizens put in place to make decisions on the best future options for public transit in the city. Isn’t that what we have a local government for? That government had a position, which was LRT. So what the province is doing now is putting the opinions of its task force above the stated position of the local government. But never mind. Fair enough. If the task force does a credible job, it will be a worthwhile endeavour.

January 12, 2012

But how will anyone know if it does a credible job given that it is operating in secret? This is absolutely no reflection on the members of the task force. They seem earnest and no doubt trying to do the thing in the public interest. The lack of transparency isn’t their fault, but it’s fair to say their work will be judged differently than if it was taking place in relative sunlight.

Part of what rankles here is the justification for the secrecy. To be fair, this is a government that typically wouldn’t offer any justification for its arbitrary decisions, but in this case, at least a civil servant agreed to address the question of why the task force meetings — there have already been two — must be behind closed doors.

The meetings must remain secret, according to the province, to protect ” commercially sensitive” information like cost estimates, procurement matters or past budgets. Also, the province says, the secrecy will give task force members the freedom to have “open discussion” about prospective options so there is not “a public debate on every single project they may be looking at.”

October 7, 2016

Respectfully, that is an absolutely terrible rationale for shutting out the public and media. City councils and committees regularly go in camera to discuss issues that are legally or financially sensitive. There are provisions for that. To suggest that all the deliberations of the task force should be secret for that reason is — sorry to be blunt — silly.

And to allow task force members to speak freely? They can’t do that in a public forum, like city council does? Like the Ontario legislature does? Is the government really saying that only secrecy can allow for forthright discussion and debate? And does consciously setting out to limit “public debate” a good thing? Is that the sort of democracy the Ford government wants for Ontario?

But don’t worry. The agendas for task force meetings will be made public. After the fact. And the things discussed will eventually be summarized for public consumption.

So calm down and don’t fret. The government knows what’s best for you. Just sit back and relax. All will be known in the fullness of time. You can trust Doug Ford and friends, right? (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Saturday January 25, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 25, 2020

Could Hamilton’s Lime Ridge arena rejection cost city nearly $1 billion?

When city council voted 11-3 last week to kill the idea of any further consideration of a 6,000-seat arena at Lime Ridge Mall, it leaned heavily on a staff report urging such a decision.

Not to worry, the report implied. Having a rink downtown is way better. Besides, it won’t affect Cadillac Fairview’s plans to spend $890 million redeveloping the Mountain property. Might delay it a bit but that’s it. So go ahead and vote against it. All is well.

Not so fast, the executive vice president of Cadillac Fairview says.

“I think the short answer to that is, yes, it is at risk,” Wayne Barwise says.

Not just short term. Completely. As in, potentially no 1,250-unit residential development, no hotel, no expanded office space, no new jobs. None of it. Because what would lure people there?

“People have not traditionally chosen to live at a shopping centre,” he says. “We’re trying to transform the shopping centre into more than a shopping centre so it’s a mixed use community. So you need other things. You need catalysts.”

This should be concerning to everyone in Hamilton.

For the better part of a decade, this town has turned itself into a pretzel over the LRT because of the billion dollars of someone else’s money it could bring into the community that would transform part of the city. Supporters — including many at city hall — say it’s essential. Politicians and bureaucrats have spent thousands of hours working to make sure that desperately needed cash infusion comes here.

Yet when a company says it wants to invest nearly an equal amount elsewhere in the city, there seems to be a whole lot less urgency.

This is troubling. Even more so when one of that company’s top executives argues the numbers the city is relying on to make its decision are “plain nonsense.” He says the real amount the proposal would cost the city wouldn’t be well over $100 million but closer to $27 million.

Without the arena — or something like it — nothing will happen at the site in the next three to five years, Barwise says. Doing it at any point will require “substantial positive market growth.” A sports and entertainment complex would lure people to the area and create that, he says.

Ironically, that’s pretty much exactly the city’s reasoning for wanting the entertainment district downtown.

“I think they made the wrong decision,” he says. “I think the decision lacks vision and I think it’s short sighted.”

Of course he’d say that, some will say. He’s got an interest in this. Which he does, of course. Even so, this seems rather too large a potential investment to be something we’d take for granted.

That LRT billion? City changing. This $890 million? We’ll get back to you. (Continued: Hamilton Spectator)