Raise the Hammer

Why doesn't the City pay for advertisements during CFL games while our city and the stadium are recieving national exposure. Highlight what is good about Barton St, touch on it's history, talk about the refurbishment of our historic Wrigley ... north. Show businesses across this nation and locally of course, what we could do with Barton St. This is perhaps our largest and last opportunity, to selll this part of our city and allow it to flourish as it once did - a place to shop. I have seen some beautiful artwork and some great books along James St N that showcase some of Barton's St's history.

How nice it would be to show some pride for what we have. Ivor Wynne is the greatest place to watch a game now. That experience added to the dynamics of game day along Balsam Ave N. ... Man alive that is $150M some odd dollars being spent in my backyard. Not to mention the rebirth of Ottawa St and a much needed cleanup at the old Centre Mall grounds. Give us back a healthy Kenilworth Ave again as well and this area will once again be the beautiful place it once was.

How about the GO station stop off of Gage. Is there perhaps more land surrounding it for greater parking opportunities. Could the GO @Gage actually be worth considering for our major east/west toronto/niagra full-day service stop? That would certainly clean up north of Barton and if we could work with the factories along Burlington St to model their frontages after for instance, the businesses and factories along Harverster by the Appleby GO? Could this be an opportunity to clean up 2 of our major gateway's to downtown (Burlington and Barton)?

Wouldn't it be nice for people to want to continue past Ward 3 to downtown? There is no access to downtown from Niagara without doing a loop at the Junction. Let's bring them through our city. Just because that exit has factories, doesn't mean we couldn't hold businesses more accountable to keep their yards clean and throw up some much needed greenery. Wasn't Burlinton St voted worst road in Canada or something? Good opportunity to pave it for #Toronto2015.

But those are just a few of my pluses. I am sure some locals have some thoughts as well. $150M+ is better than $0.

Is this a lot of money. For sure it is, but that money was going to be spent somewhere in Hamilton either way for a stadium and there wasn't really a lot any of us could do about that. So, the fact that a Code Red neighborhood is going to be getting this much money being spent within it, I think that's an okay thing.

Comment edited by lawrence on 2011-01-30 20:49:21