Comment 52539

By JH (anonymous) | Posted December 02, 2010 at 14:23:49

Just to clarify, this letter was a personal email submission to Anna Bradford and Councillors, in partial representation of the Friends of the Hamilton Farmers' Market.
There are two issues that have come to the fore for me in addressing the decisions surrounding the Hamilton Farmers' Market redevelopment. The first is the issue of democratic process; where consultation, it is claimed, was the grounds for much of the decision-making, a frank analysis of the issues, and simple conversation with vendors, reveals that this was simply not the case. The second, and perhaps more controversial issue, relates to the question of standards--points systems, and particular standards always privilege particular values, groups, etc.. We need to acknowledge this before arriving at the conclusion that the operation of the "local" discourse, as used by the City, is a self-evident good, especially when it completely obscures the social relations and reality that have historically formed the market, and the downtown core. Particularly when the ideas around localism are inveighed to exclude. So these two issues are related; the question of process, and the questions of "whose standards?" To me, these are paramount to a genuine discussion of inclusion, diversity, and forward-thinking social and municipal change.

I, too, am curious about the special Council meeting occurring on Tuesday.

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds