Comment 30271

By LL (registered) - website | Posted April 20, 2009 at 01:31:53

From what I know about San Jose, it's a mid-sized city that's part of the San Fran bay area. So in that respect, it's a lot like Hamilton.

Except that San Jose has a very different class composition and geographical form. It's the epicenter of silicon valley. Most of it's development was in the 70's and 80's. So it lacks Hamilton's advantage of pre-WWII planning.

It also has a lot of white collar workers. That's what makes the new urbanism thrive.

I don't care, meister. If you see yourself as a kind of conservative voice of Hamilton, you're screwed either way. Either the new urbanism is embraced and you'll get swamped with a downtown full of progressives, bohemians and liberal yuppies. Or the new urbanism will not be embraced and Hamilton will continue to contract - socially, economically, and demographically.

In which case, Hamilton will be a haven for ultra-left and anarchist organizing. I picture bikes everywhere, vacant parking lots torn up for gardens, funky DIY tech stuff, militant unions, under-the-table exchange and barter...

(I try to think positive, so I leave Mafia, bikers, crips & bloods out of the picture for now.)

LL believes that the problems of the city reflect deeper social contradictions

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