Raise the Hammer

I think I have to respectfully disagree, Undustrial.

The questionable taste of the photo exhibit aside, one of the most frustrating things about being a "working class" family is that people assume your family is OK with all the illicit stuff that happens in the neighbourhood, and that if you live in a poor neighbourhood, you're automatically someone who needs help, should be watched closely, and doesn't care one bit about what goes down on their street or what they're raising their kids around. A lot of families (and single people) would prefer not to have a neighbourhood like that, but it's impossible for them.

How about asking some of my former coworkers who live on Oak and Barton (working parents at low-paying jobs, with kids) how much they want their kids growing up around that stuff?

Ask my neighbours across the alley, or those who live below me how much they like it when they're watching their kids play in the back yard and a drug deal goes down in the alley right behind them, or the hooker who frequents our corner walks by? Whaddaya think they'll say?

I'm very, very lucky to live in a neighbourhood as nice as I do with the budget I have. There's great seniors who see everything and are good to have around. My immediate neighbours are all fantastic - and by and large hardworking. Some are even gasp high-paid professionals in specialized fields! But, of course... we should be OK with the crack and the hookers, right? After all, we simply shouldn't have moved here if those things aren't to our taste?

How about asking my parents what it was like two decades ago when they were trying to find a place to rent and raise the family on a single income, and then what it was like after that income was gone after a job loss?

It's not about "suiting one's taste" or snobbery and entitlement... it's that no one - not even people at King and Steven - should have to live with illegal, harmful activity in their backyards, their streets, their alleys, their homes, or their buildings, and if it takes people moving in with a modicum of power and ability to bring some change, that's no problem for me.

I'm all for the Pearl Company. Have I been there yet? No. Might I go sometime? Perhaps. But even if it's not something I'm interested in, adding diversity, eyes on the street, different demographics in a neighbourhood - these are all good things.

Simply stating that Hamilton is "working class" and thus we should leave neighbourhoods full of drug addicts and sex workers alone to continue their self-destructive cycles of abuse and addiction isn't helpful - and it's not acceptable, even in Hamilton.

Comment edited by Meredith on 2010-09-22 16:08:59