Raise the Hammer

sorry about the incomplete post above - I seem to have hit the wrong key!!) --- reposting here ---


WRCU2 I presume is a 'poetic licence' rather than an articulated point of view based on experience or insights. Like most poetic licences things most often get stretched, contoured and entwined in a rush of emotions.

It is perfectly ok to feel sad - after having compared RTH in a poetic rush, to the Spectators 'handled' blog solely based on the software it is being run on; or the location where it is being hosted. It is also perfectly ok to feel a bit silly the morning after this rush - born of loose observations and looser prognosis.

This unfortunate pattern is symtomatic of Hamilton, as I have observed it over the last 12 years - and only exposes once more our communities parochial grasp of a global life that we collectively have found ourselves living in since the advent of computers, software, servers and networks.

Some like to host their servers in their basement, some in server farms across borders. Both instances, fortunately have never been the reason why a local economy expands - or sputters for decades.

Our biggest challenge in creating vibrant local economies after having read the earnest "Blueprint for the NEXT Hamilton" is that, we continue to use words and poetry to overcome our conditions, while willfully choosing to be blind to the most obvious patterns surrounding us.

It has taken 10 years from our amalgamation to the passing of the first official plan - The very same ten years, in which the world economies switched hemispheres, and the world very nearly has arrived at the tipping point in sustainability. Our sense of urgency and timing is indeed impeccable!!

The one single thing that will define our "NEXT" city is not big or small boxes, or 200 or even 400 people+jobs per hectare, or even contained urban boundaries or the nationalistic or reagional-istic parochialism in buying widgets --- but whether our Economic Development and Planning efforts recognize the notion of a "Jobless Recovery" in their plans and strategies, which are being laid out for the next generation.

What we are seeing in Hamilton is an abject lack of preparation for this eventuality.

The NEXT Mayoral run will be based on a more solid proposition. We have already missed the boat on the Green thing and even the Creative Cities thing... as we will soon find out.

We will be lucky if we manage to grasp the wave of the Jobless Recovery notion -- ahead of its arrival, and be prepared to do something about it. Failing which, we will most definately have a beautiful well planned green, sustainable city with 74 people+jobs per hectare.

It is scary, it is real. It is the politics of the future which is already here.