Raise the Hammer

Mahesh, I appreciate your response, and info on density etc.... again though I don't see why you've felt the need to bring up this strawman known as the 'RTH community' as Mystoneycreek did. A quick look at the voting on this discussion has us all sitting nicely at zero. lol. equal votes up and down. Again though, I don't really pay attention to the voting system. I prefer to keep the discussions civil and with reasoned ideas...and the odd bit of peppery humour. lol

Some of us like to compare Hamilton to Vancouver because we see what could have been and what still could be. Vancouver isn't perfect. No city is. But they are ranked a heck of a lot higher than us year after year. Clearly there is something to learn. Just as there is something to learn from Paris, Montreal, Portland as well as Buffalo, Detroit and Flint. I'm happy with low rise projects like UrbanWest being built right now on Aberdeen and with 30 storey condo tower proposals in empty lots next to the Connaught. Some people don't like tall buildings. I'm not one of them.

I think our skyline will be impacted over the next 10-15 years with the next wave of development coming. I want it to look good. I love Hamilton, but I'm kind of done with the monument to 1970 we see when we stand atop Sam Lawrence Park. A good city should have architecture and public art from every era. It's one of the reasons I love city hall and didn't want to see it demolished. I've been to Montreal, NY, Vancouver and Seattle and experienced the vibrancy of their downtowns with mega tall buildings and narrow, historic retail streets. The mix can, and does work. I'd love to see us develop it here.

Look at Locke St. It's come a long way and continues to evolve. I, however, believe that it will only go so far without further residential density. I'm hopeful that the Allenby Phase 2 pans out and the proposed 8 storey condo with streetfront retail at the old Asian Mart site moves ahead. The street still needs more residents living there to become a place that is animated and busy into the evening. Would I want a 50 storey tower in the middle of Locke? Probably not. Around the corner on Main and King? Sure. I think our main streets should look like our main streets with our secondary streets having the level of density necessary to sustain small business 7 days a week, mid-winter and mid-summer vacation season.
I would love to see these sorts of projects on James St, Ottawa, Parkdale, Westdale etc:

http://www.newhorizonhomes.ca/urbanwest_brochure.html http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost...

And these on our empty parking lots downtown: http://www.fosterandpartners.com/News/19... http://images.ctv.ca/archives/CTVNews/im...

Comment edited by jason on 2011-08-21 17:38:27