Raise the Hammer

Cityjoe:

Again, thanks for taking the time to respond with such thoroughness and clarity. And without 'attitude', to boot! Much appreciated.

You seem to have some sound first-hand experience in this arena, both in Hamilton and elsewhere. This is precisely the sort of invaluable, empirical input the dialogue requires. I don't want to tie up any more space here than is necessary, so I'll reply in point-form as I'm able.

-I've forwarded your 'observations' to a small handful of Councillors I have regular contact with. I'll be intrigued to hear their general responses...but of course, there won't be any incident-by-incident followup. That's something best left to either the individual Councillors involved, an official Ombudsman...or maybe some kind of ad hoc citizen version if it appeared that this kind of behaviour is rampant. (A variant on the Matt Jelly 'Bylaw Crawls' efforts.) I've tried to determine if City Hall has an 'ombudsman', but I haven't yet. (Maybe I'm just dense.)

-Again, I'd like to see data on communities of a similar size as Hamilton (I'm referring to population). And no, I'm not putting this on you. Nor am I being argumentative. I'm simply saying that it would be vital compare apples with apples.

-The 'proving or disproving' point had to do with the notion that Hamilton is particularly bad at doing what it does, in comparison with similarly-sized communities.

-"Is it not possible that part of the apathy, voter & otherwise, stems from people sucking it up, for decades & generations?" Sure. this is why my thrust these days on my site is examining how we can change this by changing how people see local governance. It's the only way forward to a systemic and longstanding solution.

-Regarding the park bylaw... It's extant elsewhere in Stoney Creek, I've seen it in Norfolk, VA, I've seen it in Brighton & Hove, UK. It's not that unusual. But I do salute your strategy of making use of spaces in order to keep the 'anti-citizens' out. (My phraseology.)