Raise the Hammer

Culturally we are disposed to linear arguments based on dualities. Something is either good or bad. You are either for it or against it. People line up politically at either end of the argument. They're either with you or against you. You're smart and they're stupid.

LRT is, in and of itself, not an argument for its own use. LRT is a good way to deal with traffic congestion. Traffic congestion is a consequence of large numbers of people wanting to go to roughly the same places at the same time. I don't think that's at the heart of downtown Hamilton's problem.

A number of business people along the proposed lines appear to doubt that they are an attraction to those they percieve to be the "types of people" who use public transit. So they're against the LRT. We might suggest their businesses are in the wrong location, but it's not that easy to move when your livlihood is tied up in a business that is barely surviving and property values will take some time (a year or two) to rise. Further, many businesses do not own the properties where they are located, especially downtown. Profit margins in most businesses are narrow. Landlords may be able to sit on undeveloped properties waiting for better times, but business tenants often cannot afford to lose even a small percentage of their clients for even short periods of time.

I find that few advocates for social change actually appreciate the costs involved in running most small businesses: rents, taxes, utilities, advertising, financing and staffing are underestimated if recognized at all. For those who undertake a small business these can be truly harrowing. They're often much greater than the cost of the products that are offered for sale. Most do it not to get rich, but out of a passion to engage in a more independent lifestyle. They'd rather work long hours at something they enjoy than spend 40 of them weekly playing office or shop-floor politics. Once you've sunk your savings and mortgaged your home into a specific business at a defined location based upon existing criteria researched for your eventual success, you might be forgiven if you're less enthusiastic about change.