Revitalization

Two-Way Conversion: Still Waiting

By Ben Bull
Published March 24, 2008

So Hamilton is finding yet more reasons to delay its street conversions. Today it's pothole repairs; tomorrow, bridge repairs; the day after that - what? New road construction?

God forbid anyone should invest in making Hamilton a better place to live.

I moved out of Hamilton two years ago, partly because of the dismal state of the city's core, the skewed priorities of the city council and the interminable slow pace of change.

I came to realize that Hamilton is not the Ambitious City it once claimed to be: It's a city that stays the same.

I understand that a city council must weigh its priorities and spend money with care. But does this mean it has to forgo change forever?

Every year that Hamilton waits to improve its pedestrian access, its attractiveness to knowledge workers, its image to the world - is another year of new investment passing it by.

With editorial advice like this it looks like Hamilton's quest to become a world class city will be a long one.

It looks like my decision to move was a good one.

Ben Bull lives in downtown Toronto. He's been working on a book of short stories for about 10 years now and hopes to be finished tomorrow. He also has a movie blog.

2 Comments

View Comments: Nested | Flat

Read Comments

[ - ]

By jason (registered) | Posted March 24, 2008 at 13:14:51

Ambitious City alright. Our ambition now is to remain stuck as a 1950's monument of crappy planning and no leadership. So far, so good. Someday Hamilton will develop a fabulous tourist niche as a mid-1900's city that turned off the lights and never flipped them back on. People will clamour from all over the continent and the world to come and see this monument to 1950's-70's urban renewal and car-centric sprawl planning back in the good ole days of cheap fossil fuels.
We can call it 'retro' and make a fortune. As a wise man once said "nobody goes to Paris to see the smooth roads and highways". That's all they be coming to see in the Hammer.

Permalink | Context

[ - ]

By CLG (anonymous) | Posted March 27, 2008 at 20:53:47

Very clever - I could'nt agree more!

Permalink | Context

View Comments: Nested | Flat

Post a Comment

You must be logged in to comment.

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds