Raise the Hammer
Summer's over, and municipal affairs are springing back to life with several upcoming events.
By RTH Staff
Sep. 9, 2007
[Jason wasn't able to do the downtown update this issue, so the rest of the RTH staff pitched in with a list of recent and upcoming events of note. As you can see, our combined efforts pale in comparison to Jason's one-man information centre. -Ed.]
Car Free Week is coming! Organized by Transportation for Liveable Communities and running from September 21-28, CFW is a chance to separate from your car and experience your city firsthand.
Come celebrate being alive and self-propelled with a week of great activities including: a sceening of The City and the World (1945-Present), a Parking Meter Party, a hike through Cootes Paradise with Ward 1 Councillor Brian McHattie, a bike repair workshop with the awesome folks from Recycle Cycles, a hike through Tiffany Falls with the Hamilton Naturalist Club, a car free "drive in" movie, and a Critical Mass bike ride (naturally).
Check out the TLC website for a full calender of activities.
Hamiltonians for Progressive Development are hosting a seminar on sustainable land planning, titled "Thinking Outside the Big Box". It features a presentation by Philip Weinstein from the Planning Partnership and a subsequent panel discussion with Bill Curran from Thier+Curran Architects, Bill Janssen from the city's Department of Community Planning and Design, Ryan McGreal from RTH, Michael Desnoyers from HPD, and Ron Starr from Deanlee Development.
The seminar is on September 13, 7:30 PM in the Hamilton Room, Hamilton Central Library (55 York Blvd.).
If intensification doesn't blow your whistle, the city's Community Task Force is hosting a public meeting also on September 13 to receive public input on establishing community councils [PDF]. In brief, a community council is like a neighbourhood association, but with a budget and more autonomy.
It takes place in the Dundas Town Hall auditorium (60 Main St. E., Dundas) at 7:00 PM. If you wish you make a presentation, contact Ida Bedioui from the city clerk's office at 905-546-2424 X4605 or by email at ibedioui@hamilton.ca.
On September 24, CATCH and RTH are hosting a public session at the Sky Dragon Centre (27 King William St., b/w James and Hughson) to discuss transit issues in Hamilton.
Ward 1 Councillor Brian McHattie will be speaking about what's happening at 71 Main St W, and Jason Leach from RTH will talk about light rail.
This meeting will also re-launch the Transit Users Group (TUG), an organization dedicated to supporting transit and advocating service improvements.
More details to come shortly.
The North End Neighbours are throwing a big party on September 13 at Benetto Recreation Centre from 5:00 to 7:30 PM in celebration of the North End and the Neighbours who live there. Highlights include a visit by the Reptile Guy, the Ti-Cats mascot, local musical acts, and free hot dogs.
Clean Air Hamilton has already announced the fifth annual Upwind/Downwind Conference on Febriary 25 and 26. The theme is Climate Change and Healthy Cities. More Details to come.
The Locke South and Westdale Street Festivals were a big hit this past weekend. It always warms our hearts to see streets emptied of cars and filled with people. The minigolf is just an added bonus!
Once again, Hamilton's vampiric political culture has sucked all the blood out of an otherwise worthy proposed by-law. A decade after everyone else and moving re-e-al slow, Hamilton is finally considering a draft pesticide by-law that bans the use of pesticides in the city of Hamilton, unless:
In other words, you can't use pesticides unless you're using them for one of the reasons people normally use pesticides. Glad we've got that, er, cleared up.
If you want a last chance to comment on the proposed by law, there's a board of health meeting on September 13 that will take public delegations. If you want to make a presentation, contact the city clerk at least two days in advance at 905-526-2424 x4408 or by email at clerk@hamilton.ca.
In Saturday's column, Terry Cooke reported in the Spectator that Mayor Fred Eisenberger is working behind the scenes to line up $200 million in new provincial money to drive economic development in Hamilton, including a $25 million fund to support the manufacturing sector and rehabilitate abandoned industrial brownfield sites.
As long as the planning and economic development department doesn't divert it all into prepping farmland for the warehouses of tomorrow, this could be a real boost to the city's economy, especially if they follow Richard Gilbert's advice and cultivate an industry around energy conservation and production.
Coupled with new light rail rapid transit, this is the sort of thing that could really turn the city around with a two-pronged approach that boosts industrial and residential activity simultaneously.
NewsfeedsISSN: 1715-1554
Aerotropolis: Will It Fly? - Wednesday, December 3, 2008, at Mount Hope Community Hall, 3027 Homestead Dr., Mount Hope.
City Backs Down on Airport Development Size (Dec. 1, 2008) - Citizens at City Hall (CATCH) reports that the city has backed down on at least one aspect of its dispute with the province on the size of the Airport Economic Growth District (AEGD), a planned in
Same Old 'Traffic Trumps Everything' Thinking (Dec. 1, 2008) -
Apparently, the City Traffic department still doesn't get it.
After turning James and John into two-way streets that slowed traffic down, the city is now looking for ways to speed thing
Toronto Council to Vote on Corporate, Union Donations (Dec. 1, 2008) -
Toronto City Council has another opportunity today to decide whether to allow corporate and union donations to be proffered during municipal campaigns.
City Council has voted against such don
Poor and Dirty (Dec. 1, 2008) -
Your humble editor presents a modest tribute to the Hamilton Spectator report, "Poor and dirty", published November 27, 2008.
Poor and Dirty
They see us rollin'
On the highway
The
Double Downtown Density? We Should be Aiming to Quadruple It (Nov. 28, 2008) - Today's Spectator carries a head-scratching article on a proposal by Councillor Brian McHattie to double the downtown's urban density of 200 people and jobs per hectare to 400 people and j
Councillors Propose Salary Freeze (Nov. 28, 2008) - Councillors Chad Collins, Scott Duvall, Sam Merulla, Bernie Morelli and Terry Whitehead just issued a press release proposing a salary freeze for Councillors and non-union employees across the mun
By seancb | http://www.hammerboard.ca/
Posted 9/11/2007 2:18:12 PM
Lots of great stuff going on!
I posted all of the car-free week events on the events calendar, and will get the other events up shortly:
http://www.hcal.ca/
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