Raise the Hammer

FWIW, here is the text of my letter:

I am writing to you today to plead with you to show the same leadership shown by your predecessors in the 1960's when the board made the decision to build your iconic building downtown. Staying downtown and preserving this beautiful building are as important today as they were then, and for all the same reasons.

I have three children in three public schools in Hamilton. It concerns me greatly that I have entrusted their education to an institution that is poised to make such a regressive move as demolishing a beautiful, perfectly sound, building that was a gift to you by the citizens of this city and province, and plays a critical, iconic role in the life of the civic heart of our city, and moving to an insular campus in a residential neighbourhood that is accessible only by car.

The optics of distancing yourselves from our Code Red neighbourhoods, and ensuring that parents who either can't afford or choose not own cars can no longer participate fully in the governance of and educational opportunities provided by the board are disturbing, and fly in the face of your mandate to increase parent engagement, particularly when these same parents are being asked to spend their tax dollars so staff can have the privilege of free parking at their new campus.

Making this move in an age when the social, economic, and environmental benefits of curbing sprawl, promoting public and active transportation, and repurposing heritage architecture have become so clear, is a shocking abdication of the crucial role education plays in the life of a community.

I would like to believe that my children are being educated by people with a firm knowledge of the issues of social, economic, and environmental sustainability that our children will be facing in the future. Demolishing a beautiful, sound building and consigning it to landfill, and building an insular, car dependent campus in an inaccessible residential neighbourhood, is a perfect example of the kind of unsustainable planning policies that cities across North America are rejecting. If this decision is allowed to stand, the folly of it will quickly become be evident in the next 5 to 10 years.

I am worried about my children's future, I am worried about my city's future, and I am worried about the damage this decision will do to the board's credibility, and its ability to positively influence social and education policy in this city. Please show us that you are still interested in being a strong partner in the life of this city by staying at the heart of our civic centre, instead of fleeing to the comfort and safety of an inaccessible residential neighbourhood.

Thank you for your consideration.