Raise the Hammer

interesting. thanks for the updates. What ever happened to Julia Serna, the Colombian Coffee lady??

I feel rather awkward saying what I'm going to say here, mostly because I fervently believe in Downtown Hamilton revitalization and all that this process would mean to the city as a whole. However...

The Downtown Farmers' Market is not the only opportunity for business people for whom the Market setting is ideal. That is, there are are other parts of the Hamilton area that desperately need this kind of feature, that could support this kind of feature, where vendors would unquestionably thrive. The landscape is changing, and those entrepreneurs who have patience, and their wits about them may very well find ways to create the success they crave. These other environments may not be as 'ideal' as the Downtown Farmers' Market location...or they may in fact present even greater opportunities.

Downtown Hamilton is not the only game in town...if you're prepared to search out and establish brand new playing fields.

Comment edited by mystoneycreek on 2010-12-20 17:49:39

What I do know is that Downtown Hamilton is not the only game in town...if you're prepared to establish brand new playing fields.

I find this kind of funny or ironic coming from someone in stoney creek. the only game in town? LOL For over 2 decades the powers that be have pretended that downtown doesn't even exist. Now you're worried that we're the only game in town?
Maybe I misread you, but I had to chuckle at that statement. I wish we would stop establishing brand new playing fields and rebuild what we have first. Seems that all we've done my entire lifetime is 'establish new playing fields' out in your neck of the woods and elsewhere.

anyhow, your post is well taken. I was just caught by surprise at that ending statement :)

@ jason

Precisely why I prefaced my comment the way I did. Because I was born in Hamilton, have lived in it for sizable chunks of my life, seen it in good times and bad over the better part of a half-century.

Let me re-iterate: I believe in a re-imagined, resurgent Downtown Hamilton. But I also believe in the truth that the Downtown Farmers' Market is not the only opportunity for these sorts of vendors.

Is this a dichotomy? Not at all. Email me if you want further clarification.

no, sounds good. I guess I've just never heard anyone say that 'downtown isn't the only game in town'. haha.
You're exactly right. I like all of the new farmers markets that have been popping up all over town in the past few years. cheers

Echoes of Councillor Brad Clark, who, instead of actually helping the market vendors through the process, offered denied vendors the opportunity to set up shop in Stoney Creek....This was censured as a conflict of interest, btw..
IMHO, the question of development, whether in downtown Hamilton, Stoney Creek, or otherwise, is a secondary point in the actual procedural question of reinstating vendors who had been put through an applications process in order to present a thinly-veiled attempt to cover up poor planning, when they were guaranteed a spot in the renovated (not new) market. This is not a question of "what can vendors do for the city (or certain parts of it) but "what does the city need to do for its Farmers' Market vendors?" who it swept aside. I'm glad the city showed some sense in this decision.

Council approved six of the appeals with two of the vendors being located in the renovated market and four to be located in a new market annex to be located in the food court of Hamilton City Centre

Has a lease been signed already? If it has does anybody have the details on it?

Here's a short list of places more markets could easily take place, or already do.

1. Parking lots
2. All those school fields we keep selling off on the mountain.
3. Former school fields in the lower city.
4. Vacant brownfields
5. Confederation Park
6. Any of the numerous public golf courses
7. Rooftops (take your pick)
8. Proposed (but not yet started) development sites like the Thistle Club
9. Vacant but not 'derelict' buildings in need of occupancy (schools, office buildings etc)
10. Keystone properties (like the Connaught) in need of "special events" to draw attention
11. Sidewalks (where all of this begins)
12. Streets (closed for special events)
13. Public buildings (schools, city hall etc) closed on weekends or for the holidays
14. Churches
15. The Harbourfront

I love problems like the horribly inefficient use of urban space because they're so easy to solve. Two words: use it. All of these options, and more, could work for many other accessible, cheap and attractive uses; gardens, parks, musical venues or miniature golf courses. Richard Florida may attribute success to a creative "class", but I prefer to see things more simply: success is a product of creativity all classes. These spaces are here, and disuse isn't being kind to them.