Comment 68132

By mystoneycreek (registered) - website | Posted August 17, 2011 at 12:30:52 in reply to Comment 68128

I think you're looking at the wrong parties, Lawrence.

I don't think that the 'problem' lies with any one particular type or group of developers or speculators. I think that's looking at the wrong aspect of what unfolds.

Our local government is charged with looking after things. This involves more than just making sure things don't go wrong, it involves having elements in place so that things go right in as many ways as is possible. Which requires a consistent vision being implemented on many levels. (I'm not talking about micromanaging. I'm talking more or less about something cultural.)

'Bad' developers don't get to run amok if there are proper preventative measures and guidelines in place...and people who are given the responsibility of ensuring that these are enforced.

My sense in Hamilton is that a) there's no effective vision, b) there's no effective leadership and c) there's a disconnect between Councillors and 'City Staff'. All three of these combined set up the possibility for developers essentially getting things their way...so that we see these melodramas unfolding such as here, with the Federal Building and The Century in early 2010.

The resultant d) 'helplessness' that many Hamiltonians feel when something like this happens (keeping in mind that many simply don't care/aren't aware when these comedies-of-greed unfold) needs to be prevented as much as the very production that constantly gets foisted upon us by all involved needs to be stopped. We're continually creating more of the 'legacy malaise' that burdens us.

Put simply: it's not the thieves that are the problem when the building's doors and windows are left wide open and the security guards are off on a perpetual coffee break.

Comment edited by mystoneycreek on 2011-08-17 12:33:20

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