Raise the Hammer

Lotta great ideas. The ones i like best are the problem busting things like addressing red tape, taxes, etc. These are also the cheapest and fastest as no building/ little money is required. I like to call this the power of negative thinking - the first job of any renovator is to remove useless crap and unneeded surfaces to 'see what you've really up against'. The problem is that folks don't like such negative thinking because it involves criticism. One needs criticizers to identify the bad stuff.

Folks also fear what will happen if regulatory crap is removed. The NIMBY thing. Do we live and let live or do we insist on using the club of gummerment to keep people in line. I lean toward the former but there's a lot of selfish people around.

I also lean toward Undustrial's view that without so much regulation/ old boy stuff/ city hall bumbling/ Spectator judgementalism, etc., that our local folks will naturally find something interesting to do with themselves. We can't predict what pearl will grow from a grain of sand. But you gotta keep gummerment away from the grains of sand! Exception is horn blowing which our new mayor should excel in.

As for the more positive ideas such as cleaning up/fixing up, since these involve money in a constrained financial environment, we have to understand that we must utilize marginalized resources to keep costs down. In a city that needs so much, why do we pay people to sit at home? This sacred cow needs attending to but A. Smith's observations, which may seem one dimensional at times, are not being given their due. He makes a valid point.

Finally, despite my Scottish reluctance to spend money, Hamilton needs some excitement, something exciting that can be made for not too much but will give a positive image that transcends our problems. Our harbour and escarpment are obvious focii. Why do we not make these exciting? There must be a hundred possibilities. Real life climbing wall. Zip line from the old Tamahac down to Mac?? Skating on the bay - poorly done at present. Skating trail like St. Donat in PQ. Uli's stairs are one grain of sand that is already a pearl, imo. Little cost. Big potential (lost for us sleepy Canuks that allowed US liability rules to enter Canada.)

Someone needs to blow the cobwebs outta this joint. If we don't see any action soon, I hope we can make some noise about it.

Comment edited by bobinnes on 2010-11-14 23:20:55