Raise the Hammer

"Policing is also a challenge. "Take the area from Gage to Ottawa and Lawrence to Main. Just to cover that area [with police coverage] would be very costly but we've got to find ways to cope with those issues."

Policing may or may not be challenge .. (Morelli would know he's on the Police Board) but i really doubt that area mentioned one of richer,less dense, and i assume crime free area's of the ward is the one most in need of policing. (half of it is park) this is simply posturing for his most likely voters.

Is the plan to leave the rest ward open to the type of action that was seen on Milton St last weekend ?

I've watched enough to see the Police here resemble a poorly programmed version of vice city . Where theres a glitch that every patrol car is followed inch for inch turn for turn by a second patrol car.

SPLIT UP ! you have radios in your cars. Call for help if you feel the need for backup. There you go twice as much area covered by the police force with no budget increase and no loss of safety to officers.

If you wanted to eliminate some crime look around. I see a lot spa's,'shiatsu palours' etc in ward 3. I see a lot of street prostitution too. Legalize brothels. Bring it inside. Regulate it. Tax it. Protect the workers. Get it off the street. It's been going on for a long time. It will never be 'stamped out'. It will never be a 'desirable' business but it can be safer for everyone(sellers,buyers , and the innocent bystanders)

The word 'intensification' is like the word 'cancer' . I assume that he's referring to cancer the illness as opposed to Zodiac sign. I don't know of a lot of cancers with 'Positive' outcomes. For the most part surviving is a positive outcome , sometimes that moves up the scale to surviving in tact. If your talking about the Zodiac sign; I personally have never had a positive outcome (but it must happen i suppose). At this point the only kind of intensification people would put in ward 3 would be more structures like the one on Sanford between Cannon and Barton (high rise low income housing).

Ward3 needs rejuvenation not intensification. Calming the streets will help. Why not offer 'tax holidays' to buildings which are reconverted to ground floor commercial? Maybe even tax benefits / grants to stores that sell 'Healthy Food'. Extend the Facade improvement programs to cover the commercial in ward 3. Why does it stop at Wellington (correct me if I'm wrong)?

Do something really smart with the Westinghouse tower Sanford north of Barton. This building is one of kind. Think mixed use community center & combined tech/arts / trades incubation center. sign up animators from Sheridan, geeks from McMaster tradesmen (people) from Mohawk. Give them space to 'build stuff'. I duck when i say this but .. I don't foresee huge industrial companies banging down the door to set up shop North of Barton. Rejuvenation is going to come on a small startup basis. The space is there for companies for grow (almost) infinitely. So its better to make plans.

Finally how about thinking outside the box ..the weird /different /non conforming/ is not necessarily bad. Not every one needs parking for their venture.The implication of every zoning decision couldn't for seen 20 -30 years ago. Turn a blind eye , cut red tape spend the time enforcing the 'safety code' not the 'zoning code' i.e. overcrowded housing, unattended industrial storage. This is what began the change at King West and Spadina in Toronto. Theres No reason it couldn't work at King East and Spadina in Hamilton, Maybe if we acted really fast it could happen at King East and Steven as well before one of bright lights of ward leaves..