Translation from Bob-Speak into English of Selected Portions of Mayor Bratina's Live Chat with The Spectator

By Ryan McGreal
Published September 01, 2011

Humour

First of all, not to be nitpicky, the stadium was named after the famous Brian Timmis, not the northern Ontario town.

I'd rather nitpick the pronunciation of the amateur sport stadium we're eliminating to make room for parking next to the professional sport stadium we're building with money earmarked to promote amateur sport than address the real issue.

Certainly Mr. Young, whose family has contributed to Hamilton since their arrival in the 1800's is approachable on any community-building initiative.

When did your family arrive in Hamilton?

The fact that in 12 short days we resolved the problem and that we are now getting a completely new stadium has received excellent coverage in the national media, including my appearances on the FAN radio.

People who only care about professional sports approve of Hamilton sacrificing its objectives to subsidize a sports franchise with $150 million in taxpayer money that was intended to promote urban revitalization and community building.

The only damage seems to be occurring among a small group of dissident local residents.

We've always been at war with Eastasia.

The clean-up costs of West Harbour have been given as a range of between $3 million and $37 million dollars.

Because the preliminary estimate from two years ago sounds a lot more frightening than the more detailed estimate of $3 to $5 million that came months later on closer inspection.

I'm with you. Let's get the real numbers.

And by "real numbers" I mean numbers that make me sound like I'm making sense.

Public use of the land would be problematic because of the clean-up costs which a large commercial development could sustain, and provide the City with much-needed tax revenue.

Developers are lined up to buy this contaminated brownfield.

It hasn't been postponed for any definite length of time.

It has been postponed indefinitely.

The Connaught was a big stumbling block because it is integral with the design, as those who worked on the plan would know.

Clearly there is no possible way between now and 2015 that we can lay cobblestones on a street two blocks away.

Everyone has a right to their opinions, and some opinions are dissident when measured against the broad public expression.

People who agree with me are engaged citizens. People who disagree with me are dissidents.

I am always in the public and constantly hear positive endorsement of how we're making progress in the City.

At least that's how it feels during my chats with Bill Kelly.

(With apologies to John Gruber and Mark Pilgrim.)

Ryan McGreal, the editor of Raise the Hammer, lives in Hamilton with his family and works as a programmer, writer and consultant. Ryan volunteers with Hamilton Light Rail, a citizen group dedicated to bringing light rail transit to Hamilton. Several of his essays have been published in the Hamilton Spectator, and he occasionally blogged for OpenFile Hamilton. Ryan also maintains a personal website and has been known to post passing thoughts on twitter.

44 Comments

View Comments: Nested | Flat

Read Comments

[ - ]

By GrapeApe (registered)
Posted September 01, 2011 at 23:12:06

I think we need tshirts that state "Dissident" in bold type writer font.

Comment
Screen Name
What do you get if you multiply 5 and 1?

Leave This Field Blank

Raise the Hammer