Raise the Hammer

Jessica, I am very sorry to hear about what you had to go through. You are doing a great thing for the city and least deserve to be bullied over such a minor issue. You are correct that small business here must exist in spite of the City that is supposed to be helping them.

Thankfully you persevered and navigated around the many obstacles, but how many others have given up? Dealing with the city is like waking up every day in a Kafka novel. Nothing makes sense, nothing is explained to you and one day, it's just all over.

It occurred to me that the city is in the process of new zoning for the Upper James area. They are doing this in conjunction with the A-line rapid transit and these changes will likely include reduced parking requirements. Because of that, you might be able to get a temporary occupancy permit which will tide you over until the zoning changes take place. I know someone who faced the same issue as you and was able to do this downtown. It's worth a shot.

One more thing, please contact your councillor if you haven't already, and be persistent. He can probably get the process for the variance sped up so you're not waiting another 2 months.

What I've found out is that contrary to popular belief, City employees can do work and relatively quick, but they must receive the right directive from the right individual.

And get the Councillor on board, so they'll support your application at the COA. Ask for the support and a letter of that support.

I can understand your frustration but on the other hand as a business owner, home owner and landlord of several homes< i do not feel the city is strict enough with parking requirements for new comercial and residential in the city

a restaurant opened beside my business. we all knew(area residents and other businesses) the restaurant did not have adequate parking

Sure enough the restaurant customers were soon parking in our spots. Then the city gave them a patio permit which further reduced the restaurant parking spots and their customers imposed further on the surrounding residents and businesses by taking more of our spots

Its great to say, there is a lot nearby or customers can street park but human nature is such that people want to park as close as possible to the door they want to enter. And almost no one wants to pay to park if they can avoid it

Think of my frustration of paying taxes for 25 years and having the city loosely giving business permits without adequate parking so now my customers have no spots to park

The city has allowed developers to build condos with ".8" thats point eight parking spots per unit. Where is the other ".2" part of the car supposed to park-obviously in business or residental spots that are already at a premium

if you look at parking in any city from either point of view its a hassle that isnt easily solved

in a utopian world we would have lovely weather and everyone would walk or take public transit and never have to think about parking spots

If people are parking on your property, bylaw will ticket and/or remove the cars, you just have to have the appropriate signage that cites the bylaw.

The problem with a blanket parking requirement bylaw is that it results in seas of unnecessary spaces that are empty many hours of the day and not contributing to the tax base.

simple enforcement of permit spots or specific spots for your business is all that is needed. To mandate parking lots and gobs of parking be the way we continue building Hamilton isn't the solution.

Oh good! Finally! ;)

Post signs in "your spots" and engage parking enforcement to ticket when people who aren't supposed to park in "your spots" park there.

Likewise, neighbouring residential streets can switch to permit parking. Sure there's a cost, but then they get parking for permit holders.

the city needs to HELP the small business by being diligent with by-law and parking enforcement.
I know in St. Catharines you can't walk anywhere without seeing these little guys walking around and posting tickets on violators. As annoying as they are, they're getting their job done, and generating $30-$60 tickets for the city which over time does add up.

The city needs to step in and due diligence.

Jessica,

Please let me know if you would like me to write a letter or speak at a COA meeting.

Mandating provision of car parking creates a serious induced demand issue. In other words, car parking encourages car drivers to use their cars. And every time a car is used, this results in a lethal cancer poison attack being launched against the citizens of Hamilton.

I've got a 42 cm scar on my right side due to major surgery because I was poisoned by car drivers. That is something that nobody should have.

I own a small commercial business with a small simple building and employ 20-22 people depending upon the timing. We have very low customer traffic. We emit no fumes and make no noise.

I pay $22,000.00 in tax on about a $700,000.00 assessment give or take. (I paid half that for the building but don't get me started on that.) I think if it was a residential property the taxes would be between 7 and 8 thousand dollars.

After I bought the building the neighbors, without my knowledge, complained to the city about "their" street. Their complaint had nothing to do with me or my building. The issues pre-date my purchase of the building. It related to an increase in borders and renters who drive cars and the shortage of street parking. (I have separate off-street parking for my staff.) About 60% of the residents are in publicly subsidized houses. The City acquiesced to their demands and changed the parking to permit only.

When the signs went up. I was surprised but went to get a permit. I was told I was not advised of the potential change as technically my building was not part of the area covered by the change due to the specific location of my building. They then told me that because I own a commercial building I do not qualify for a permit.

I have a parking spot on my land that I pay taxes for, but often the "borders" and such use it leaving me to park temporarily on the street while I call the city to ticket the person in my spot. Also there are other times when I just need to park on the street. Accordingly I have received a multitude of parking tickets. I suspect some of the people living on the street call the enforcement officers routinely, maybe because they have nothing better to do, maybe because they want to ensure the law is strictly enforced, maybe because they are just very unhappy people - who knows.

I must tell you that I feel like a second class citizen in this situation. It is frustrating and it appears that the by-laws prevent me from doing anything about it. These types of situations are not very conducive to business.

Welcome to Hamilton, where the city has their heads up their you know what and actively derails many businesses.

Something needs to change to promote growth and to NOT stifle it. Now we have a Bus lane downtown, most people are avoiding the downtown center like the plague, was this the intended result you were looking for ? Its not like the Hamilton police are going to enforce the bus lane. So whats the point.. they are too busy screwing up and getting a paid leave of absence for it.

Way to go Hamilton officials, if your job is to suppress stifle and scare local businesses, you're doing a great job!

And a high five to any of the new restaurants opening up in spite of the ridiculousness that is Hamilton.

Now we have a Bus lane downtown, most people are avoiding the downtown center like the plague

What do you base that on? It looks very busy along King, just like always.

It only looks busy because 1-2 lanes are taken out with the useless bus lane.

It only looks busy because 1-2 lanes are taken out

I wasn't talking about the traffic, I was talking about the street view (you know, not from behind a windshield). The sidewalks are full of people going in and out of stores, and Jackson Square, buses are packed. This didn't change suddenly one way or the other, because of the bus lane. Some shortcutters through downtown have probably switched to other routes. That was the idea.

StayOnTheMountain

You're absolutely free to hate the bus lane, nothing wrong with that, just say so! But why pretend that nobody goes downtown anymore because of it, and then, in a veiled manner tell someone that does, to go away?

I don't say that nobody goes downtown any more. Please advise where I did that.

I'm saying that you think it looks busy, I'm telling you why it looks busy.

Same problem with new cafes on James N: Two city lots + street parking, most people walking or biking ... and the same rules apply for parking spots.

Ridiculous.

folding chairs? BYOC (bring your own chair) for a coffee break? :)

I have lived through 1) at least 5 variances 2) a rezoning 3) an official plan amendment. I will not bore you with my tales of woe and sorrow. I am still living one at this very moment. We are on year 2 of a 'minor' variance. So instead of reviewing a million individual cases and trying to change thousands of antiquated laws the city could change the culture of Planning and Building by putting the fees in escrow (or something) until the project goes through. If the project dies then the city only sees a small fraction of the money it would get if the project had gone through. What is happening now is that planning collects its fees regardless of outcome. They have no incentive to expedite or compromise because every time they send someone back to the drawing board they collect more fees. This way a restauranteur who suddenly realizes that all her capital for restaurant development has been eaten by planning fees can bail. Obviously this would require checks and balances. However that is the basic theory.

Jessica, My wife, daughters, and I deeply enjoyed your espresso bar and warm hospitality. We were the ones in this past Tuesday afternoon whose daughter was dancing and asking about the table that was to be built near the entrance. Again, many thanks.

Hi, I will stop in for a beverage the next time I am at the Walmart plaza at Upper James and Fennel. Sorry to hear about the hell that is is dealing with the city. I hope it works out to your favour.

Your just a block or so from me. Ill stop in sometime. Theres also a new 6 story mixed use apt building going up in our neighborhood. upper james area around Fennell I noticed is booming with new construction lately. Things are looking up