Comment 45174

By goin'downtown (registered) | Posted August 08, 2010 at 17:46:05

One of the blocks I've stumbled upon in conversations with friends/family on this issue, is that the majority don't recognize whatsoever the importance of a vital downtown. That whole "you can't be a suburb of nothing" thing (I think I'm quoting someone on RTH). Most people have no idea how a city keeps chugging along, outside of paying their taxes. Storm Cunningham's article was great in that regard, but I think this point needs to be driven home big time, espcially right now. Investing in a vital downtown is investing in a vital Hamilton - east/west, south/north, up/down. I think people are de-sensitized to the phrase "downtown revitalization" and further more, don't feel that it affects them at all. If you never go downtown except to renew your passport every four years, you probably don't give a crap about what happens there; "it's scary and the panhandling is irritating." I think that the resistance is the perception that we are asking to spend their money for a minority of people and neighbourhoods. How can we get municipal economics 101 out to Hamiltonians? There's amazing dialogue here on RTH, on The Spec blogs, the Hamiltonian, etc., but everyone isn't into or has time for online journalism/social blogging. Oh, yeah, and Young's latest missive is pure drivel (not trying to be trite; just trying to be brief.)

Comment edited by goin'downtown on 2010-08-08 16:55:14

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