Raise the Hammer

I think that an LRT in Hamilton is a great idea. I lived in Portland, OR in a ground floor apartment no more than 20 meters from an LRT (they call it The Max in Portland) station and there was no noticeable noise, even when we left our windows open at night in the summer.
My wife and I had a car, but we would regularly ride the Max downtown to go to a baseball, football or basketball game, or just to go downtown to go shopping or out for dinner. Incedentally, our favorite restaurant was steps away from another Max stop downtown. Sometimes, I would hop on the Max just to go down the street to get groceries. While on the Max, we would see all sorts of people, from businessmen to parents with kids, even the elderly rode the Max.
There was also (and still is) plenty of development along the Max line. Businesses are just springing up all over the place. And old neighbourhoods are being restored.
When compaing an LRT to a BRT, here is what I think. I can't recall how many times I rode the Max during my time in Portland, but not once did I ever ride a bus in Portland. Also, I visit my folks in Hamilton on a regular basis and I look forward to the day when the Hammer has an LRT. I would take my kids on it just for the experience, but if they do decide to do a BRT in it's place - forget it.
Finally, there is one thing that I would say about the Max in Portland that I would like to see Hamilton avoid if they were to get an LRT. In Portland, there are new LRT lines springing up everywhere, out to the airport, down to the southern part of town and others too. But, it seems to me that it is all coming at the expense of drivers. There has been very little invested back into roads or highways in Portland in the last number of years, it all goes into LRT. The eastbound 1-84/I-5 split is always backed up, even on weekends, and little ever seems to get done about it. Now, I know that Portland as a city is different than most, but I hope that Hamilton might be able to avoid that problem at least. I don't ever think you'll get rid of cars, but don't let the roads get so shabby that every person has no other option that to take the LRT.
That's my experience and my two cents worth.