Raise the Hammer

I have to admit I don't quite understand the purpose of 'the best place to raise a child' objective. Shouldn't Hamilton want to be the best place for everyone? I wouldn't move somewhere if it was the best place to raise a child but the worst place for Mum and Dad...

Obviously so much of what makes a town 'liveable' is interlinked. Jobs relate to everyone and everything. You can't live somewhere if you're not in close proximity to a job (sort of goes without saying doesn't it?).

To grassroot's comment, here's one 'story':

I lived in the Hammer for 6 years, with my 4 young kids. As with all towns there were good and bad things about the place.

Good Schools Park Space (I lived nr Gage Park, had I lived in the lower east end this would have gone in the other column (along with a lot of other aspects)) People Local road network (no traffic jams in the Hammer!) Cheap/beautiful housing Safe

Bad No streetlife in my hood Transit Lack of things to do Downtown (no downtown = no identity) Busy roads, one way streets (there's a price to pay for those unclogged local streets...) Lack of local jobs in my field (IT)

In the end we moved away because Dad (me) was away too much (commuting) and it was very hard to put down roots. The lack of decent planning and transit was a big factor, as was the lack of a downtown and things to do.

For sure the effect on my kids was a factor also. It's important to me for my kids to have Mum and Dad around as much as possible and, living in Hamilton where no work was available, did not meet that requirement. We also had one too many incidents with traffic in Hamilton (my daughter ran onto King Street and was almost knocked down, I caught my babysitter crossing between the lights because they were so far apart). Beyond that most of the reasons we moved away were personal - nothing to do with the kids.

In the end Hamilton needs to address the needs of all it's citizens. You can't really state job creation as a solution. You have to understand what it takes to attract employers. This is the essence of what Florida is saying - attract creative growth industry employees and the bosses will follow.