Raise the Hammer

Touching on the bedroom community point, I would hope that the introduction of all-day GO (and for GO to eliminate the Toronto express bus I think would be a bad call), and LRT, I would hope houses would greatly increase in value meaning that moving to Hamilton because of cheap real estate to just turn around and commute to Toronto, would be less common.

I agree with what you said Ray about spouses of these commuters possibly working in the community or their chilren going to school in the community etc., but if more investement follows the approval of LRT and the GO at James, and susequently investment booms along this new B-Line corridor, more jobs here would mean more people would start moving here to work here.

Is that not our ultimate hope? Less highways and less frequent commuter trains because more and more people are able to find work closer to home? Maybe it's a pipe dream, but there is so much to do in Hamilton, that one could truly work and play within the GHA and hardly have to jump in a car or train out of town.

Hamilton. The best place for a stay-cation. Maybe expand our water park even further and give folks more reasons to avoid the traffic to and lineups into and at, Wonderland. We already have football and great hockey and it's been a long time since I have seen the Thunderbirds play but we have baseball and will hopefully have soccer too.

Not to mention our many beautiful conversation areas and waterfalls (do we have the most of both??), not to mention a great camping grounds in Valens which I camped at twice this summer for the first time and loved it. Add some more theatre culture and why leave? We even have a Casino in Flamborough and a race track.

If we build more on what we already have in place, you have 500,000+ people with everything they need to live a healthy, prosperous, and event-filled life. Something for everyone you might say.

Might I also suggest, that perhaps a very important and life-altering Open Data Map project that Joey and CO could embark on, would be one that lists all vacant office buildings, perhaps with rent costs and details such as sq footage and average cost of utilities and to start selling these places to large corporations who have substancial numbers of employees coming in from Hamilton. These people could be bussing or LRT'ing to work and buying their meals and shopping downtown, instead of spending it elsewhere. No offence to my own place of work or the city it calls home, but I'd personally like to spend my money in Hamilton. I'd also rather be in the vacinity of downtown than industrial, big box surrounded, highway facing, remote cities.

Gore Park would be a nice place to escape during lunch break.

Comment edited by lawrence on 2011-08-03 14:18:50