Raise the Hammer

Adrian writes with regard to my article:

"Simply put, opposition to this plan does not need to incorporate disrespect towards others. Women are not skanks. People on welfare are not losers"

Hold on a second my friend, I never once said that women were skanks and people on welfare were losers. That's your interpretation my friend. Perhaps you need to dig a little deeper into your soul to find out why you came to that conclusion. I wrote skanks and losers. Period.

Just for clarification, partial definition of 'skank', as it has evolved, means a person who has little respect for him or herself and others around them. So lets say you spit on a business man downtown just for sh*ts and giggles, (true story) that's a pretty 'skanky' thing to do. You can be black, white, gay, straight, male or female, or whatever, it doesn't matter. It's skanky. :o

I am not against poor people, I'm against concentration of a single group of individuals. If we are to be inclusive, then were are the 'creative class' for example. The opposite to this situation is Burlington. I'm not big on that city for the exact same reasons. It's all concentrated on one group of people. It's not mixed.

And downtown Hamilton is mixed, which is great, but the scale has tipped over, to the point that many, many people do not want to be a part of it. It's business at this point. And so, much like a downtown cop on the beat, you tend to get a little jaded and frustrated. Have you ever spoken to a downtown cop? Out of all the many cops I know, I know of one who lives downtown, a super cool guy, but he in fact is 'special' for the reason he's bucking the trend where most of his colleagues get the hell out of dodge the moment their shift is over.

And believe it or not, I'm not a bad person, :). Sarcastic, yes (and for the record, my article was tongue in cheek, glad most people got that) but far from evil. I mean, (and this is kinda funny lol) I was awarded the 'student of the year award for displaying the most christian like attitudes' back at St. Annes in a yes, mixed urban setting (please stop laughing, lol). Rich, pour, white, black, you name it, it was all there and I have nothing but fond memories of it. I've reafirmed on many occastions that it indeed takes a village to raise a child. But if the village is all down and out, who are the rest going to learn from? Santa Claus?

If I really felt the way you think I feel, would I really be living and loving in Hamilton, let alone downtown Hamilton. For God's sakes, I put my money were my mouth was and opened up a business right smack in the middle of the city. My second to be exact and I'm working on a third as we speak.

The thing is, we all need to live together but we don't have to be in the same living room. An art gallery, a coffee shop, a condo, a geared to income building, an ethnic restaurant, etc etc, all in a wonderful urban setting, but we don't have to be in one big mall type building and have us all bleed from one person to the next.

Anyhow Adrian, I think we met once at the market. You seem like a great guy and I think it's great that you've embarrassed urban living. Keep it up. I mean it.

:)