Media

Spec Illustrates Real 'City Building' Objectives

By Jonathan Dalton
Published July 09, 2010

I had to laugh when I looked at the Spectator's home page this morning:

Highlighted content: 'City living in a country setting', 'Rains overwhelm Red Hill parkway, east end' and 'Mutineers and rats on stadium ship' (Source: thespec.com)
Highlighted content: 'City living in a country setting', 'Rains overwhelm Red Hill parkway, east end' and 'Mutineers and rats on stadium ship' (Source: thespec.com)

Exhibit A: "City living in a country setting" - The well worn slogan of the 1950s push to suburbia is still good enough to sell homes in Hamilton. Good enough, in fact, that those homes are a major source of funding for the local media and election campaigns.

Exhibit B: "Rains overwhelm Red Hill Parkway, east end" - Apparently the environmental meddling required to support this 'bedroom economy' of unrestrained suburban expansion can cause, err, issues.

Exhibit C: "Mutineers and rats on stadium ship" - Issues aside, councillors are content with spending our "No Future" Fund where they've just spent the last couple hundred million, throwing good money after bad.

Jonathan Dalton runs a small music shop on a two way street in downtown Hamilton. He is a board member of the Durand Neighbourhood Association, and volunteers with Transportation for Livable Communities.

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By CityBuilding (anonymous) | Posted July 09, 2010 at 21:28:53

Storms cause flash flooding in Montreal
Cars stranded – sound familiar, Hamilton?

July 09, 2010
MONTREAL — Violent thunderstorms have caused flash flooding in some parts of Montreal.


The afternoon storms overwhelmed drainage systems and in one case caused water to accumulate on a major traffic interchange.


Several vehicles were stranded amid rising water levels.


The city was also buffeted by strong winds that knocked bricks from buildings and felled power lines.


More than 45,000 Quebecers were without power Friday

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By jason (registered) | Posted July 09, 2010 at 21:55:43

in Hamilton today we had a couple hours of rain with no wind, no bricks flying out of buildings and no power outages and we still had to close a few roads due to flooding. Imagine if we'd had a real storm like the ones in Montreal?!

Jon, I laugh everytime I see those 'country living in the city' things. Do people really believe that still, or does everyone just chuckle at it?

Comment edited by jason on 2010-07-09 20:56:02

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By Undustrial (registered) - website | Posted July 10, 2010 at 00:23:47

I noticed earlier the Spec was blaming it on climate change.

Probably true, but misses the point entirely. Not only has unrestricted suburban building on the East Mountain seriously overtaxed our already stressed East End water systems, but suburban sprawl also creates global warming on many levels (land clearance, vehicle emmissions, inefficient housing etc).

Local issues, global concequences. Global issues, local concequences. Everything's connected.

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