Raise the Hammer

Yes, I too have become cynical about these kinds of events and sentiments. Poverty reduction has become a growth industry in Hamilton, a booming source of employment for over-familiar community leaders, who, if perhaps they had been more successful in past administrative and business roles, would not find poverty a municipal blight today. Fortunately I can choose whether to donate so these folks can attend public meetings and educate the benighted public, or donate directly to a handful of impoverished street musicians fleet enough to avoid arrest by the city's finest.

I believe Cooke when he says the city is not attracting new talent. We're good at retreading old tireds, who think new idea is something used to repaint old hobby horses. I'm not opposed to a good two-week party and I know the Pan Am will games theoretically attract large amounts of outside tax dollars to the city, but I still fail to see how a 15,000 seat (later expanded to 25,000 seat) stadium is any more benifit in the middle of a residential neighbourhood than the 5-lane auto speedway Cooke says would divide one. It is not as if there aren't any central-city commercial locations immediately on city and regional transportation routes, but Ivor Wynne never drew much commercial activity in a residential neighbourhood so why wouldn't we repeat this past failure?

Not to rehash past failures again and again, but once might be informative at least. How for instance, with all the vacant space within a three block radius of King & James, did the bureaucracies of three local public institutions (the city, the bd. of ed. and Mac) fail take advantage of a $10 million gift to build a downtown medical clinic? Apparently there's not enough talent in this city to make this happen, though my impression was that it was something the citizens wanted. Is it time to simplify the spelling and rename our former downtown landmark building the Royal Cannot? Is it time to STOP rewarding our so-called community leaders?