Comment 54263

By 500Bay (anonymous) | Posted January 02, 2011 at 19:41:23

Lets be really pragmatic. Hamilton's official mission has as its first two priorities to be a good place to raise children and to engage citizens. Hamilton's north end residents were engaged with the City and spent three years looking at what to do in the Rheem area and both the citizens and the city agreed that housing was the preferred choice. A stadium there was specifically rejected. This decision was affirmed by Council vote three times. The dedication to massive government projects as drivers of community well being has history behind it as the pyramids and stonehenge will attest. But if you pragmatically want to build a great city in which to live, you start with building living spaces. Very few of the west harbour proponents have spent any time walking on the sidewalks around Rheem or in the living rooms and yards of the homes next to the suddenly favoured site. David Crombie, following on Jane Jacobs, demonstrated that vitality comes from people, not structures, and if we simply started focusing on increased housing and variety in housing and improved housing in the core, the rest would be simple. Its the stupid big stuff that always looks so simple, is always expensive and so rarely works. If anyone has any doubts about the folly of big dreams in Hamilton check the bottom line at Copps, Hamilton Place, the Convention Centre, the Football Hall of Fame, and most recently, the abject failure of the Sheila Copps Memorial on Pier 7. Start in the living rooms. Start with the children. The rest will follow.

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