Raise the Hammer

This is the kind of article that fascinates me most. And it's the best reason I can think of for having 'salons', get-togethers where you can actually discuss this sort of stuff. (I'll say again that an increasing bunch of us have been getting together for coffee, to put faces to names, to throw ideas around, etc. If you're interested, drop me a line at mystoneycreek@gmail.com)

To me it gets into the arena of 'imagining the next iteration of Hamilton', and while none of us (?) are 'movers and shakers', to me if your residents aren't interested in imagining their neighbourhoods, their communities, their city, then why should anyone else?

I think there are some pretty simple answers to some of the questions. (I know I could respond to the cinema points.) Societal trends, local particulars, traditions, habits, etc. I don't want to go on a tirade here, so I'll limit myself to a single response:

We are like a small town because thats what the majority wants. Funny thing, not everyone wants to live in a live in a large overcrowded impersonal environment. Many if not most enjoy the fact we keep our small town feel AND have many of the benefits of a larger city.

The funny thing about this is that the people who want this 'small town feel' wouldn't be affected by, say, increased commerce on a street like Concession: they'd just carry on as usual, not wanting to partake in 'big city options'. As for the notion that 'this is what the majority wants'...I think that's an inaccurate extrapolation...mostly because you have to factor in inertia, apathy and indifference. It's one thing when people choose not to partake (don't they actually relocate if they're that unhappy with how things have changed?), but it's another when they've not really been presented with the options.

In fact, I reject the connotation of Hamilton being a 'small town', because it slams the very notion of Hamilton being an urban centre, which, despite how you may feel about the downtown at the present moment, the truth is that it's always been 'the big city' in the area between Niagara Falls and Toronto. We just happen to be in a state of transition. (I feel compelled to add that it's absolutely possible to have the best of both worlds within an amalgamated city such as Hamilton, the 'comfy small town' and the 'vibrant big city'; one of Hamilton's biggest pluses is its range of neighbourhoods.)