Raise the Hammer

Hate to pick on this, but I appreciate good math. Good math often leads to good points of discussion.

Four things:

1. You need to compare the real values (i.e. inflation adjusted), not the nominal or "current year" dollars. By doing so, total Institutional for those two periods has grown a bit more than 120% (a little more than double) with over 230% growth in total permit value (more than triple)

2. You're still ignoring the amalgamation issue - we'd really have to compare the old Hamilton-Wentworth total to the post-2001 totals. The population comparisons below are not meaningful for that very reason (the 2000 to 2001 jump wasn't growth, it's the way it was totaled). The figures I presented in the first point are not valid because they're not comparing region to city either.

3. Even just using the raw numbers, check your math - your institutional totals don't seem right (1991-2000 was $281 million, 2001-2010 was $783 million, both in current dollars... looked at it again and you actually totaled the Industrial figures by mistake). And even using your numbers it should be 332% vs. 395% growth.

4. (most importantly) I'm sorry but I'm really not sure what your point is. That Hamilton entities have been overspending on institutional projects over the last decade? If so, based on what? Who's to say there wasn't a long period of under-spending on institutional buildings during the 1990s? (hospitals especially, some schools) Consider too that McMaster especially has developed a lot of new property, not so much because it had a "deficit", but because it has expanded its programs and developed new ventures (e.g. the research park).

I would really like to see the corresponding H-W region figures over the 90s for a proper comparison between the "old" city and the "new". I suspect some of the categories really haven't changed a whole lot, when you account for inflation.

Comment edited by ScreamingViking on 2012-01-12 22:21:28