Comment 35708

By geoff's two cents (anonymous) | Posted November 24, 2009 at 22:30:11

Every Whichway, Are you suggesting that, just because things are the way they are now (ie. that Toronto for most people is "downtown"), that it will never be different? Had city planners in the 1950s and 60s thought that way, downtown Hamilton nowadays would be a very different place.

From a Vancouverite perspective, the answer to downtown's woes is precisely livability - not only slowing down traffic (perhaps with two-way conversion) and widening sidewalks, but encouraging downtown living as well. The large scale housing boom beginning in the late 1980s (facilitated not only by Expo 86 and the branding this made possible - Hamilton will soon have Pan-Am - but by effective leadership and vision, coupled with sound planning) made downtown Vancouver a very different place from what it once was. If I had to pick a key feature differentiating Hamilton from Vancouver, however, it would be a defeatist attitude that permeates the whole city, leaders included. The notion that, for some reason, Hamilton will always be a bedroom community just because it's been one for the past thirty years is completely foreign to me.

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds