Comment 79683

By jason (registered) | Posted August 13, 2012 at 12:04:03 in reply to Comment 79681

great comment. I learned quite a bit about Cape Town's waterfront when reading up on it for this piece. I realize it's a different animal altogether from Pier 7/8 in Hamilton. Way larger in size etc....

My thoughts in bringing up the comparison are that we should aim for a smaller-scale version of V&A. We've already got amazing greenspace...now imagine that greenspace being flanked with fantastic residential/retail/patio space at Pier 8 and in the Barton/Tiffany area?

I'm not too concerned with climate...Cape Town has quite brutal winters...not like you and I would consider brutal with tons of snow and ice, but they get a lot of rain, constant gale force winds and cool temps during the winter. The summer and fall is stunning there, and would make up the bulk of their sunshine hours. Seems it's sunny everyday during that half of the year.

Closer to home we have cities with bad 'Hamilton-style' winters that have seen great interest in waterfront living. Boston and Halifax clearly have worse winters, and cooler summers than Hamilton, yet people love living near the waterfront and shopping at the markets etc...

Risk is the biggest obstacle, as you mention. That, combined with Hamilton's horrid history of turning over great opportunities to developers with no other agenda than dollar signs makes this quite a risky proposal.
But, eventually we're going to need some political leadership that can get something fantastic built like this without sacrificing the great public opportunity for some campaign donations or quick money.

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds