Raise the Hammer

Although I agree that if the economy continues to slow down "the situation" will get a lot worse. Meaning, more people here (and many places) will be poorer than they are now. As trends go, with the rich getting richer (and faster) and the rest of us falling behind, this means that the poor and the middle class folks will get poorer.

What I don't agree with is the claim that Hamilton is a "magnet" for the poor. Increases to Hamilton seem to come from immigration and students (myself included). I'm resigned to living with less (than my parents at least) and aiming for some idea of simplicity in my life - both by choice and because it seems like they'll be less to go around (I'm not rich and don't really expect to be anytime soon..).

Hamilton as a city isn't doing much to keep me here. I rely on buses, which aren't getting any better (but are costing more and more). There just doesn't seem to be decent jobs for anyone here - let alone young, university grads who are still naive and idealistic enough want to do something they believe in as a vocation. Poor people, or people without at least decent jobs, don't fly all that much, so I agree with Don's criticism of the Airport Express. (Not to mention the annoyance of taking luggage on a bus...if you're dropping a grand for a flight and hotel, plus spending money, what's $20 for a cab to get to the airport?! Although I hope they do run a bus to that area for the folks that work there and could/would use it; maybe they should see how much use a smaller run generates...)

I'm planning on leaving in the fall. The city isn't doing much to keep me here, so I'm going to put my time and energy into some other place and hope it's more appreciated there. To those of you with deeper roots here, I wish you the best. Maybe I'll be back someday; if it ever starts to feel like the city isn't fighting against functional public transit, a livable and revitalized downtown, and some semblance of democracy politically that is. For now, though, you should know something. Poor people don't flock to Hamilton (if they could travel easily they'd go somewhere with jobs, or a warm beach at least). Hamilton makes people poor.