Downtown Bureau

Downtown Update

Summer's over, and municipal affairs are springing back to life with several upcoming events.

By RTH Staff
Published September 09, 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

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.

More Upcoming Events

HPD Sustainble Land Planning Seminar

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.).

Community Task Force: Establishing Community Councils

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.

CATCH/RTH Transit Seminar

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.

North End Neighbours Party

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!

The "Why Bother" Pesticide By-Law

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.

Industrial Development

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.

4 Comments

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By seancb (registered) - website | Posted September 11, 2007 at 14:18:12

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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By Frank (registered) | Posted September 20, 2007 at 09:23:20

Does the pesticide thing cover herbicides as well?

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By highwater (registered) | Posted September 21, 2007 at 10:56:29

yes

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By dumb farmer's son (anonymous) | Posted September 25, 2007 at 13:16:27

the term pesticide is a blanket term used to cover all the various types of chemicals to kill unwanted organisms. hence HERBicide kills plant, INSECTicide kills bugs ect. ect.

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