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By COUNTERCOOTE (anonymous) | Posted May 27, 2007 at 23:00:00
OLD COOTE's original message implied that decent, monied suburbanites will not want to come to Hamilton's downtown if there's too much social housing- too many poor folks, I think he means. He backs off a bit in his second response, but is still concerned about the balance.
The notion that Hamilton must chase away its poor in order to attract wealthier folks from the suburbs is a non-starter. It doesn't work. It is discriminatory. And where are they to go?
Secondly, people who like the suburban life, with two SUVs in the drive to get to the mall and the soccer field and the corner variety store, are not coming downtown. They don't easily give up illusions that the suburbs are safer and more convenient. They've already bought their SUVs and don't like paying to park them on city streets. They don't work in Hamilton, so they want to be close to the highways, even if proximity doesn't actually put them on the highway any faster. They've made their investments. Those in the suburbs aren't ever going to come back downtown to shop etc. in sufficient numbers to save the downtown economy.
There's no economical benefit in trying to chase away the people who are already downtown, supporting whatever economy there currently is. If poverty seems to be concentrated in the city centre, the answer is to develop a neighbouring economy that includes the poor, providing proximate places to work (restaurants, pubs, theatres, galleries, etc.) and live (subsidized housing.) When it looks like that's working other creative businesses and commercial opportunities follow.
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