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Coleman's Multiball Roundup for November 17, 2015 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

November 18, 2015
A collection of noteworthy stories, links, and commentary I read yesterday which I deem shareworthy. (Multiball is a reference to my pinball hobby)
The City’s adding PayPal as a payment option for the 2016 rain barrel sale. The date for the sale is not yet set, but the City is adding an online pre-sale.
City of Hamilton website
CATCH goes in-depth on Council’s economic development grants for new residential units and hotel suites in the downtown core, taking issue with the City’s $2.4-million grant to the new condo tower on the site of the former James Baptist Church.
As always with CATCH, they back up the article with extensive hyperlinks and background.
Read it on the CATCH site and don’t forget to subscribe to their email list if you wish to receive their articles.
Eva’s gallery is across the street from my office on Catherine North and I enjoy chatting with her frequently. She’s displayed her art in my office, including near my desk. (Both those paintings sold btw).
Mohawk journalism student Tania Guerra profiles Eva and her story of choosing to move to Hamilton as part of the wave of artists adding to Hamilton’s vibrant character for Mohawk’s student news site Ignite News.
The Brant Federation of Agriculture opposes the expansion of the Greenbelt into the county which borders to the west of Hamilton and is seeing growth pressures.
Hamilton’s farmland is already within the Greenbelt and there are many farmers who want out here, with a similar argument that the Greenbelt doesn’t address underlying planning and economic issues that make sustainability for farming difficult.
Read coverage of the debate in Brant County on www.betterfarming.com and from the Brantford Expositor.
Ontario’s Chief Coroner makes 122 recommendations following a review of 45 deaths in Ontario long-term care homes. One of the recommendations is updates to the building code to “have environmental solutions incorporated to allow residents with dementia who wander to have access to a safe area for roaming where the ability to wander into the rooms of other residents is minimized.”
The report does not make any municipal recommendations.
As January 1st approaches, municipalities are deciding how they will respond to changes to the Municipal Act which will grant the Ontario Ombudsman oversight of municipal councils.
The legislation does allow for local councils to appoint their own Ombudsman and Integrity Commissioners to be partially replace the provincial oversight.
It’s a fairly even split between municipalities welcoming the provincial Ombuds and those seeking to have a separate local IC or Ombuds.
Collingwood, which had a local IC, voted Monday to eliminate the local IC and replace with the provincial Ombuds.
A common theme for municipalities choosing to use the provincial Ombuds is cost-savings and the assurance of true independence from local politicians.
Midland Police Service is the latest to make cuts to station hours as a cost savings move. They outsourced their dispatch to Owen Sound – a move approved by OCPC and already done by numerous other small police services.
As part of the change, the police station front desk is only manned during business hours.
In Hamilton, Chief De Caire suggested that stations would no longer be 24/7 if his 2013 budget increase request was not approved by Council.
Commonly, when stations are closed, a public call box connecting to police dispatch is installed outside of the station. In Midland, the Chief changed the entrance to allow the call box to be inside – allowing those seeking assistance to have shelter from the elements.
As we enter the 2016 police budget debate, will cutting station hours be back on the table? Should we, if it is, expect an indoor call box?
Interesting to note that Alberta’s provincial municipal affairs ministry offers a “municipal dispute resolution services” team for municipal councils in crisis due to internal tensions.
There are also grants to hire mediators for Councils with extreme difficulty. Here’s coverage of the situation in the Town of Athabasca
As journalistic ethics and transparency become defining issues in journalism practice (finally), the Reynolds Journalism Institute launched the largest database yet of journalistic codes of ethics from hundreds of publications.
If this interests you, and it interests me, you can check out the database on their website.

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Hamilton Library Proposes 1% Operating Budget Increase as per Council Request – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

November 20, 2015
Hamilton’s Public Library Board’s proposed operating budget for 2016 is a 1% increase over the 2015 budget – while sustaining an significant increase in activities, programs, and usage of the library system.
The Board passed the budget proposal on Wednesday, it will be presented to Council on either January 26 or 27.
The proposed 2016 operating budget is $30,559,780, up $236,100 from 2015. This is only an increase of 0.8%, but the increase on the tax levy is $295,270 – mostly due to an expected $78,400 decrease in fine revenue as more materials are available digitally such as e-books.
Staff cost pressures include a 2% cost-of-living increase for salaried staff, and the minimum wage increase for hourly staff such as book-shelvers. These pressures are partially offset on the ledger by a reduction in of 2.39 FTEs.
The library is increasing its security budget by $35,000 as they add more events such as Art Crawls, concerts, and markets.
(Disclosure: The Library hosted the joint CANADALAND and The Public Record talk on the Hamilton local journalism landscape, absorbing staffing costs to host the event)
Noteworthy as part of the cord-cutting trend, but not as part of the budget, the Library no longer subscribed to cable television. They were only spending $780 per year on their subscription.
The libraries expecting to make $3,000 in revenue from selling supplies in its new makerspaces – the library’s goal is to be at cost recovery in the makerspaces.

source: news-thepublicrecord

created: November 20, 2015

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Is Hamilton Canada's Brooklyn? Ambitious City 2015 [Full HD Replay] – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

November 17, 2015
Is Hamilton Canada’s Brooklyn? This was the topic of the 2015 Hamilton Chamber of Commerce Ambitious City Event.
Carlo Scissura, President and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, provided the keynote which was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Steve Paikin where Tim Potocic, Terry Cooke, and Sevaun Palvetzian of Civic Action discussed how Hamilton can learn from Brooklyn’s success and how to avoid some of the challenges Brooklyn encountered during its revival.
Full video replay of the event.

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Shift: Changing Direction in City Building with Dr. Pamela Blais [Video] – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

November 25, 2015
Dr. Pamela Blais spoke to a packed house Tuesday night about what Hamilton needs to do achieve the major shift in development patterns that LRT promises.
Blais explain how our current system of development incentives are  driving unsustainable sprawl and how the City can change those incentives to encourage denser more efficient growth.
The free event was hosted by the Useful Knowledge Society of Hamilton and the Hamilton-Burlington Society of Architects and and held at Mills Hardware.

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Winnipeg Moving on Moving the Rails – Should Hamilton Follow? – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

November 16, 2015
Is Winnipeg providing Hamilton a road map for how to move the CN Stuart Street marshalling yard?
In Winnipeg, the first concrete steps towards moving the City’s massive rail line infrastructure is underway. A working group, which includes the railways, is putting together the necessary detailed study to submit to the Canadian Transportation Agency.
The provincial NDP government, in their election throne speech, promises to back the “rail park” plan. BUT as Winnipeg Free Press columnist Dan Lett – who is the go to journalist on this topic in Winnipeg – says, this could be all for not as the provincial government is facing an election and could not return to government.
“At this stage, it is impossible to avoid portraying any pledge from the Selinger government as part of the NDP’s re-election strategy,” Lett writes in his column headlined Premier plays politics with rail-yard relocation plan.
Hamilton should watch Winnipeg’s process, as I wrote on The Public Record in May, Hamilton can use the same legislation to move the CN Stuart Street marshalling yard and Winnipeg is looking to take advantage of the promised new federal infrastructure money to fund the project – a funding source Hamilton could use for our own relocation.
To give you some context of the scale of Winnipeg’s project, here’s a map by the Winnipeg Free Press showing in green Winnipeg’s rail lines which divide the City:

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CHCH All-Day Experiment Lessons Will Help Save Local TV – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

December 15, 2015
We’re discussing how CHCH’s all-day news experiment didn’t succeed, but we’re only able to do so because they tried. In the end, they were innovative and lessons from this experiment will prove to be part of the formula when a viable new business model for local television broadcast stations succeeds.
It’s frustrating to watch seemingly helplessly as many lost their jobs at CHCH. We want to understand what happened – why didn’t the CHCH local news experiment succeed – and we want to know who to blame.
Frustration at Channel Zero is growing as details emerge, their use of a shell company for CHCH’s liabilities and use of bankruptcy to avoid layoff notice, severance payments, and union collective agreement requirements is allowing us to point the finger squarely at them.
While they mismanaged the ending in the demise of CHCH’s all-day local news format, they stepped in and tried to do something none of the big well financed media companies are doing – they were aggressive in trying to make local broadcast television work.
The demise of CHCH’s experiment is nationally relevant. They were the last canary in the local broadcast coalmine. CHCH is one of only two remaining independent broadcasters in Canada, the other CHEK is in Victoria.  (To clarify, this means they no affiliation agreement with the networks)
CHCH innovated on the business side and those innovations – the targeting of advertising by postal code and their viewer loyalty program, among others – must be noted for future attempts by CHCH and others to save local television broadcasting.
Channel Zero says CHCH even became profitable for a short period of time peaking in 2012.
Does this mean local television broadcast can work? Maybe, and the lessons learned at CHCH could be used to save local television news if large media companies divest themselves of local stations.
On Friday, the Sword of Damocles above the station fell.
At 4 p.m., all 129 full-time and 28 part-time employees were terminated, the company (Channel 11 L.P.) they worked for went into bankruptcy, and the Chairman and CEO of parent company Channel Zero came onto the air with a pre-recorded message.
Romen Podzyhun confirmed the rumours which swirled during the day:
CHCH’s losses are part of a national trend for local broadcasters, CRTC figures show significant review declines year-over-year for broadcasters with the overall sector unprofitable. In 2011, combined revenue for 93 stations was $2,144,290,861. In 2014, for 92 stations, revenue was $1,803,682,152 with expenses of $1,845,026,887 – the sector as a whole is losing money.
This week, CHCH goes from 80 hours per week of local news broadcasts to 17.5 hours per week. CHCH’s 6 p.m. newscast remains. At 11 p.m., the late night newscast returns to a 30-minute format. The morning show runs from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., instead of its previous 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. format.
The Early Edition which ran from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. is cancelled.
Like so many Hamiltonians, I had a wide range of emotions and really struggled with deciding how to view Friday’s events.
It is painful for us as a community and while it doesn’t feel so, we’re fortunate that we’re feeling this pain in 2015. Other cities of our size witnessed the decrease in local television news during the Great Recession of 2008 and the years that followed.
Instead of experiencing this collapse, we had Channel Zero which came along and reinvigorated CHCH. Today, what we are left with is what cities of our size in the rest of the country already had for the past half-decade.
CHEK – which like CHCH was facing going off-air in 2009 as Canwest’s E stations collapsed – offers 12 hours of local news programming per week. By that measure, Hamilton is still getting a better deal than other comparable cities.
In this February 2009 clip from CHCH’s Talk Show Square Off, Peter Miller CEO S-VOX operator of Vision TV and Lise Lareau of the Canadian Media Guild discuss the crisis in local broadcast news. Miller says CHCH’s then 36.5 required hours of local content was not sustainable. He says starting at 2:35 the “most appropriate” requirement for CHCH is 15.5 hours.
So who is to blame? Channel Zero is definitely to blame for the corporate shell game which sees them able to bankrupt the obligations to employees by having the stations liabilities in one corporation Channel 11 L.P. and the assets in another.
The Hamilton Spectator reports Channel 11 L.P. owes employees $1.62-million and overall, the shell corporation owes millions to other creditors. (Read the full details on TheSpec.com)
The reasons leading to the demise are many, and as much as we’d like to tar and feather Channel Zero right now, they are not the culprit in the demise of local broadcasting.
At first, I pointed my suspicions at the CRTC. After all, they decided to end the Local Programming Improvement Fund, and sent concern across the local television landscape with their recent ruling on simultaneous substitution.
The LPIF was a stop gap measure at best, it merely slowed the decline in local broadcasting. While cancelling the fund took away the $5,067,375 CHCH received at peak, it was only a part of the demise.
While the CRTC hasn’t been the predictable regulator CHCH needs, at best, all it can do is buy local broadcasters time to adjust and pivot their business models. As CHCH was trying to do this, the CRTC must take some blame for not focusing LPIF on innovation and for eliminating the fund prematurely.
I turned my finger towards Channel Zero, after all, they declared the bankruptcy of a subsidiary corporation two weeks before Christmas, leaving employees – many with 30 plus years at the station – without notice or severance.
They engaged in union busting, using the bankruptcy to end the collective agreement. A “new” company producing is CHCH News this week, but it’s not unionized and Unifor members were forced to give up their union – at least in the short term – to keep their jobs. (Note: Unifor is clear that employees remaining at the station are not scabs and the union is instructing them to continue working while all the legalities are sorted out)
On Thursday, they were in collective agreement talks with the union. It’s textbook bad faith and it should not be forgotten. When Channel Zero comes looking for any handouts, we – the public – should demand to see their books, to see their corporate structure, and to guarantee they don’t screw over employees ever again.
Despite the sins of Friday, we should remember when they took over CHCH, the station was expected to lose $30-million dollars in 2009.  Industry expert Greg O’Brien, editor of CARTT, reports CHCH told him they losing $130,000 per week before the bankruptcy on Friday. ($6.76-million per year)
Channel Zero must be credited for losing money on CHCH for the first few years, they are a small player on the media company scale and they took on a herculean challenge in saving a local broadcaster.
During a CANADALAND / The Public Record panel discussion in January, CHCH Veteran Donna Skelly said she’s experienced eight owners of CHCH since 1988 when she was hired. Skelly spoke about how previous owners had stripped the station of talent, equipment, and how Canwest gave station employees mere weeks in 2009 to find a new owner:
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Yes, the Internet is to blame. Change is to blame, as it has been for the entire of human history. Much as television killed the radio drama, the Internet is changing how we get our news.
The business models of old, based upon scarce means of distribution and a scarcity of content cannot survive in the Internet Age.
How people are consuming news is not at fault here. It’s how advertisers are reaching consumers.
CHCH’s announcement on Friday focused on the loss of decline in national advertising revenue. CHCH says local advertising was strong, which will make sense when you read about the innovations CHCH made.
Do we blame the big auto companies, the large retailers, the Procter & Gamble’s of the world?
The migration of advertising to the Internet and niche cable channels are the culprit Channel Zero is pointing to.
Sure, we can blame them, but they have no more obligation to advertise on television than viewers have to watch movies with commercial interruptions. (When was the last time you watched a movie on advertising television?)
In the case of big retails, Sears and Hudson’s Bay, they are both barely surviving the retail revolution. If local television is counting on them to save it, they may as well be on life support in a hospital powered by hand cranked electricity.
Netflix blasted a hole in CHCH’s business plan.
When Channel Zero relaunched CHCH in 2009, the format was simple – news from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m., a movie at 7 p.m., another movie at 9 p.m., news again at 11 p.m., and then paid programming or a movie overnight.
In 2009, movies at night worked. It filled air time to generate the revenue needed to sustain the employment of so many in the daytime news operation. In 2009, Canadians didn’t stream movies. Netflix arrived in 2010, Blockbuster closed in 2011, Rogers Video followed in 2012.
We don’t know the cost of movie royalties, if supply and demand economics apply, when streaming services started buying movie rights, this increased the demand thereby increasing the cost to CHCH for purchasing movie rights. Viewers moved to Netflix, decreasing ad value.
A combination of increased costs and decreased revenue killed the movie format.
It was not for a lack of trying the experiment failed.
CHCH was aggressive, Channel Zero wanted to succeed. When they purchased the station in 2009, Channel Zero President and Chief Operating Officer Cal Millar talked about their plans:
When the CRTC approved the purchase, there was excitement – especially as the E! Brand was removed. If you were in Hamilton when that damned E! brand came down, you’ll understand lack of critical review of Channel Zero’s corporate structuring of its then-new asset. Everyone in Hamilton who should’ve gazed a critical eye was punch-drunk with excitement. CHCH was saved.
When Netflix came along and the movie format failed, Channel Zero could’ve thrown in the towel, ended the experiment, and only a few people would blame them for giving up.
Instead, CHCH quickly pivoted.
In fall 2010, with the Netflix writing just starting to appear on the wall, CHCH relaunched with locally produced Tiny Talent Time, created a 7pm locally produced sports show, took the leftover American shows other better financed Canadian broadcasters didn’t pick up, and converted their news operation from old equipment to new digital equipment.
Tiny Talent Time originally ran on CHCH back in the stations glory days from 1957 to 1992. Relaunching it showed Channel Zero’s ambitions were not just limited to local news.
The most important innovation, and one which will have a legacy benefitting all local broadcasters, is targeted advertising by geography to reach cable subscribers.
Geographically targeted ads made it possible for small businesses – especially in smaller communities like Smithville, Grimsby/Beamsville, Fergus – to reach their customers using CHCH within their budgets. They can’t afford the inefficiencies of traditional mass media advertising.
CHCH also offered special discounts to attract local advertisers with very competitive advertising rates. The winter 2012 special included production and 100 on-air ads for $10,000 dollars.
These advertising innovations, combined with the Local Programming Improvement Fund, made CHCH profitable for a period of time say Channel Zero executives.
With national ad sales handled by Channel Zero’s head office in Toronto, local CHCH staff were unaware of the extend of storm clouds forming over the station.
In January, Donna Skelly and Sonja Macdonald discussed CHCH’s advertising innovation and strategy:
The viewer loyalty plan, CH-CHing, was a smart idea to build viewer loyalty while gaining demographic information to prove value to advertisers.
The program offered points for things such as sharing, entering contests, answering on-air questions and promotions. In exchange for points, viewers can receive CHCH swag and enter contests for prizes such as cars, trips, and other promotional items.
This reinforces that CHCH wasn’t sitting around doing nothing, there were working harder than any other independent station to succeed at local.
The loyalty program is a promising means of improving demographic information to better sell television ads to advertisers. It’s something other media looking to sustain themselves with an advertising based model should carefully review and implement.
Part of the story is the innovation that didn’t happen. I work closely with CHCH outside of the station – be it breaking news or City Hall – communication between station staff and myself is common.
In mid-2012, I became aware the station was working on a smart television app for Google TV. Station employees could see the need to be on Smart TVs
While I don’t know what became of these efforts, there are two factors that are obvious suspects: the demise of the Local Programming Improvement Fund and Google’s discontinuing of the Google TV platform.
While CHCH eventually launched an online stream of the channel, they never did get onto Smart TVs.
They’ve known for years they need to revamp their website and online presence. Once again, it didn’t happen, a proper website isn’t cheap – there are many back end and process changes needed for CHCH to have an effective website.
Had the Local Programming Improvement Fund continued, would they have been able to make the necessary changes? Would they be on Smart TVs?
The questions can’t be answered, only speculated upon.
The bankruptcy is messy, will likely end-up tied up in the courts as Unifor fights to get employees severance and maintain the union’s rights with the successor shell company created to produce the news.
A group of local lawyers tweeted about the legalities of common employer and successor company, to read further into this aspect, here’s that discussion thread.
Channel Zero contracted its subsidiary company, Channel 11 L.P., to produce the local news content. For the viewer, this subsidiary was CHCH, but legally it was not.
On Friday, only Channel 11 L.P., filed for bankruptcy. As all the employees (and freelancers) worked for this company, they all lost their jobs without severance. As the Union’s collective agreement was with the now-bankrupt entity, Channel Zero is seeming to claim to not obliged to maintain the collective agreement.
Unifor, the union representing CHCH staff, says Channel Zero is not honouring commitments to the union, and returning staff are signing individual contracts.
In short, all the assets of CHCH were held by one company, and all the liabilities held by another. It’s company structure trickery at its worse.
This is the question we cannot answer as Channel Zero is a privately held company.
I’m in agreement with the theory advanced by McMaster business professor Marvin Ryder – something changed financially rather suddenly. Be it a surprise dip in national ad bookings for this or the next quarter, some grant or other source of funding applied for that Channel Zero didn’t receive, or any unexpected creditor demand.
Channel Zero knew they were in decline since 2012, but choose to not share this with employees.
Ryder, appearing on Cable 14 Friday hours after the bankruptcy announcement, explained that his advice to any company is that when a financial crisis occurs they have to act swiftly and it is disservice to keep employees in the dark for a period of time delaying the inevitable.
Ryder explained that had Channel Zero waited until after Christmas, more employees could enter themselves into big or long-term life plans.
What’s damning for Channel Zero is they were meeting with the union on Thursday in labour contract negotiations. Instead of informing the union, they hid the bankruptcy until 4 p.m. on Friday.
CHCH will continue, and it will remain better than what Channel Zero inherited from Canwest Global, we were spoiled by so much local coverage as Channel Zero worked to prove local can work.
The CHCH we now have is a CHCH we would’ve celebrated keeping in 2009. It cannot be emphasised enough in 2009 it looks like CHCH was going to be bankrupt and the transmitter powered down.
The station was losing money when Channel Zero took over, staff took a compensation cut, walked away from their pensions, and just when it looked like they had found their feet, the Local Programming Improvement Fund was cut. Somehow, Channel Zero continued on for the past three years.
CHCH needs a stable environment of federal regulation and both Parliament and CRTC needs to provide it. CHCH, and other local television stations, need investment to innovate.
Bringing back the LPIF in its previous format will only delay the inevitable. The advertising model is not what it used to be and it’s not going to go back to what it used to be.
The CRTC needs to focus on funding local innovation, investments that address capital and non-human resources operating costs, and impose stricter local content rules. The Knight Foundation’s funding of online journalism innovation could serve as the model.
Another potential short-term non-advertising revenue source would be fee-for-carriage. Over-the-air broadcasters lobbied the CRTC to impose carriage fees on cable and satellite companies for distribution of their programming.  The Supreme Court ruled the implementation requires Parliament to change the Broadcasting Act.
Even if local stations are successful in lobbying the new Liberal government, it’s only a stop-gap solution. People are increasingly shifting their cable television dollars to the Internet. Among my friends, none have a cable package, but all have digital television antennas and are loyal CHCH over-the-air viewers.
Local television will need to innovate, and it is a worthy public policy goal to help them do so. If it’s just a subsidy, it won’t save local television, it will only delay its demise.
There are lessons to be learned from CHCH’s experiment. Let’s hope they don’t give up and once this restructuring is complete, they get back to innovating albeit it on a smaller scale.
Now CHCH continues as all other local stations are, struggling on life support, and barely able to innovate.
The last canary in the coal mine of local broadcast is dead, is anyone in Ottawa paying attention?
I want to thank a few sources for providing the background and materials I relied upon for this article:

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City Website Implements Council Direction, Ads Dedicated Sponsor/Partner Advertising Space – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

December 28, 2015
The City of Hamilton’s new website now includes sponsorship advertising as part of the new design. This follows Council direction to find revenue opportunities from web based advertising.
The result is a dedicated area at the bottom of the City homepage for “Sponsors / Partners” which plugs the programming corporations are paying to support in exchange for brand placement.
It’s the PBS model of advertising – tightly controlled, selective, and ‘DON’T CALL IT ADVERTISING!’.
Governments engaged in corporate sponsorships regularly, and corporations are keen to attach their brands to programs which are well regarded and received in communities. It’s become commonplace.
Last term of Council, Ward 13 Councillor Russ Powers pushed for the City to look at the new City website as a revenue generating opportunity and successfully moved a motion that the new City website include some advertising revenue generation in the new design.
His motion didn’t specify how the advertising would be included into the website.
Corporate sponsorship of City programs is now commonplace. Enter any arena or recreation centre and you’ll see corporate logos.
We no longer name civic entertainment facilities after great Hamiltonians. The former Ivor Wynne Stadium is now named after a fast food chain, which was founded in Hamilton. The former Copps’ Coliseum is now named after a local credit union.
The use of dedicated advertising space for brand placement at the bottom of the City homepage is non-intrusive and doesn’t look tacky.
Staff have done a good job of implementing Council direction while ensuring it does not harm user experience, doesn’t implement third-party tracking, and doesn’t make it appear the City website is for sale to the highest bidder for page views. (The highest bidder for web banners isn’t paying much anyway)

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Council Approved Extended New Year's Service in 2007, Why Hasn't It Arrived? – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

December 31, 2015
Despite a Council resolution in 2007, Hamilton enters 2016 as the largest municipality in the Golden Horseshoe to not extend transit on New Year’s Eve.
Here’s a list of Golden Horseshoe transit agencies linked to their New Year’s Eve extended schedules: Barrie, Brampton, Brantford, Burlington, Durham Region, Guelph, Mississauga, Oakville, Peterborough, St Catharines, Toronto, Waterloo Region, York Region.
Only Milton and smaller services in Niagara Region are not extending service.
So why is Hamilton the largest City in Ontario to not extend HSR service?
In the writing of this column, I uncovered a 2007 Council resolution approving the HSR to extend New Year’s Eve service following an embarrassing 2006 oversight when the HSR failed to check the calendar and forgot about New Year’s Eve.
As the only major transit agency in Ontario that doesn’t plan for New Year’s Eve, the HSR gets a surprise once every 6 years or so when New Year’s Eve falls on a Sunday.
This last happened in 2006 when HSR buses were planned to shut down at midnight on New Year’s Eve. (You can read further about the Sunday oversights at the end of the article.)
After public outrage, City Hall scrambled to extend bus service past midnight, and eventually announced that last buses would depart Downtown at 2:00 a.m.
Mayor Fred Eisenberger said he would be looking for a permanent fix to the New Year’s Eve saga and staff were directed to bring a motion to Council to permanently extend bus service on New Year’s Eve.
By 2006/7, the HSR was already the only Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area to not extend service on New Year’s Eve.
At the June 18, 2007 Public Works Committee, Councillors voted on a staff report to permanently fixed the problem. The HSR’s Manager of Planning and Customer Service Jim Dahms was at the meeting as Acting Transit Director.
Moved by Russ Powers and seconded by Tom Jackson, Councillors voted unanimously to direct Dahms and senior project manager Andy McLaughlin to implement New Year’s Eve service. The motion was ratified by Council on June 27, 2007.
Mayor Eisenberger keep his promise to get a permanent fix passed by Council.
For some reason, unknown, the HSR never implemented Council’s direction.
We’re now in 2015, eight years later and the HSR remains the only GTHA transit agency to not extend service.
Not something to be proud of.
Once upon a time, in a City that is here, the local transit agency, known to all but Our Voice Our Hamilton as the HSR, offered New Year’s Eve extended service.
The Hamilton Spectator‘s December 30, 1991 edition includes the following:
On New Year’s Eve, most bus routes will run on extended hours until 3 a.m., except routes 3 Cannon, 45 Limeridge, 32 Garth, 35 College, 16 Ancaster, 10 Beeline and 51 University.
Pizza Pizza will also offer free transit service on the 1 King route, from King and Hughson streets to Eastgate Square from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m.
At some point in the early 90s, this extended service came to an end. In 1995/96, New Year’s Eve fell on a Sunday. This from the TheSpec on December 22, 1995:
Hamilton Street Railway: Special Christmas service on most routes from around 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. A holiday schedule will run on Boxing Day. Extended Sunday service on New Year’s Eve until 1 a.m. and holiday service on New Year’s Day. Customers wearing First Night buttons will ride free from Dec. 31 to noon on Jan.1.
The big Year 2000 celebrations weren’t enough to draw the HSR out to mark the occasion.
When I read a December 30, 1999 Hamilton Spectator story about Burlington Transit extending service until 4 a.m. I could not contain my laughter at the quote from Hamilton’s police chief at the end:
While Hamilton’s New Year’s revellers must worry about getting home after 1.20 a.m. when the buses stop, Burlington’s merrymakers can party on, knowing their own city buses are rolling until 4 a.m.
…
The Hamilton Street Railway quits running its buses at 1.20 a.m.
…
Hamilton-Wentworth Police Chief Ken Robertson is hoping most people will be partied out by 1 a.m.
Partied out by 1 a.m.? Really?
Hamilton used to have a civic celebration called “First Night” in the Downtown. It peaked in the mid-90s, but once the recession hit, it scaled back until it was just a gathering at City Hall. In 2003, the budget was cut from $40,000 to $20,000 and then the following year it came to a quiet end.
A year later, the HSR was caught flat-footed by the calendar as New Year’s Eve fell on a Sunday.
It took a 15-year-old to mobilize to get City Hall to extend service, and even then, only after public outcry and media attention.
The HSR initially responded with by saying they couldn’t extend service because, according to HSR Supervisor of Planning Andy McLaughlin, they had to be “fiscally responsible to taxpayers”.
Here’s the key passage from the December 20, 2000 TheSpec article by journalist Carmelina Prete:
But then McLaughlin called 30 minutes later to say things had changed.
“Christmas has come early,” he said, with a laugh. “(The change comes) in the spirit of community-mindedness and to help residents safely celebrate the new year.”
Fast-forward six years to 2006. HSR managers are the same, and once again, they are caught off guard by the annual New Year’s Eve event.
And once again, only after public outcry, media attention, and outrage, the HSR scrambles to extend service.
“It didn’t come up on anybody’s radar here this might be an issue” was the statement of the City’s General Manager of Public Works Scott Stewart.
Here’s how Hamilton Spectator journalist Fred Vallance-Jones wrote that part of the story:
The plan would have meant no buses when a Blue Rodeo concert at Copps Coliseum ended at 12:30 a.m., and when bars and clubs disgorged New Year’s revellers.
Stewart said the city was following the policy that service is based on the day of the week New Year’s falls. That wasn’t a big problem last year, because on Saturdays, the last departures leave downtown at 1 a.m. or later. But Sunday service quits just after midnight.
The fact that New Year’s Eve falls on a Sunday this year apparently escaped notice.
“It didn’t come up on anybody’s radar here that this might be an issue.”
For his part, Mayor Eisenberger put out a press release which include a promise of a permanent fix to the problem of HSR service on New Year’s Eve:
HSR extends Sunday hours for New Year’s Eve – Free transit service for all riders from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.
– TheHamilton Street Railway (HSR) will be extending its Sunday service hours for New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2006. Transit service will be available from 6:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. at no charge for all riders. A scheduling oversight originally had the service ending at midnight; however discussions between HSR management and representatives of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 107 resulted in the revised schedule.
“Once every seven years the HSR has to accommodate for this change in the Sunday schedule. Unfortunately, due to an oversight, the schedule was not changed for this year,” said Scott Stewart, General Manager, Public Works for the City of Hamilton. “Our drivers have been very accommodating to allow for the last minute change in order that anyone celebrating the New Year can do so knowing that the transit service will be available to them from 6:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. for free.” The HSR will develop a permanent fix to the scheduling conflict in 2007.
“I am pleased we were able to reach a solution in time for this year’s New Years Eve celebrations,” said Mayor Eisenberger. “I’d like to personally thank the members of our Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 107 and HSR management for working with us today to ensure residents have a safe and enjoyable celebration on Sunday night.”
The City of Hamilton encourages anyone who has consumed too much alcohol to legally drive, to take public transit, designate a driver or call for a taxi.

created: December 31, 2015


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Dear Clr Partridge: It’s the HSR for Waterdown-McMaster-Hamilton Route – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

December 29, 2015
Ward 15 Councillor Judi Partridge says Waterdown needs inner-city bus service to McMaster University and GO Transit should provide it.
Partridge passed a motion during the December 9, 2015 Council meeting asking the Province to have GO Transit operate an inner-city route from Waterdown to McMaster University and “other stops within in the city of Hamilton”.
Partridge’s motion states that since GO is storing buses overnight in Waterdown, those buses can be used for the service.
Partridge is a smart councillor and a shrewd politician. She must know that her motion, while technically possible, is fatally flawed and does nothing to advance the cause it purports to support.
The motion doesn’t speak to costs. Why the Councillor believes GO Transit should provide local transit service, which the municipality itself cut in the 1990s and isn’t willing to offer on the local tax assessment, isn’t articulated in the motion.
Without a doubt, Waterdown suffers from a severe public transit deficit. Waterdown’s population has grown extensively since Regional Council cancelled bus service between Downtown Waterdown and Downtown Hamilton in the mid-90s.
At present, there’s limited HSR service between Downtown Waterdown and Aldershot GO Station. To travel to Downtown Hamilton or McMaster University requires a connection (and double fare) using GO Transit.
Travel to Downtown Hamilton can be done on a single-fare with a transfer onto Burlington Transit – it’s possible but isn’t even close to feasible.
The lack of direct bus service between Waterdown and Downtown Hamilton is a recent phenomenon caused by a series of events spanning just over 15 years, resulting in the lack of service for the past six years.
Local historian Tom Luton is quoted saying that Canada Coach Lines started service between Hamilton and Guelph as early as the 1930s. This Guelph route provided service to Waterdown and the hamlets of Flamborough.
Canada Coach Lines purchased the Hamilton Street Railway from Ontario Hydro in 1946.
The City of Hamilton purchased Canada Coach Lines in 1960, the Region of Hamilton-Wentworth took ownership in 1977. (The Region was formed in 1974)
From 1977 to 1993, the Region of Hamilton-Wentworth operated both the HSR and CCL with CCL offering an extensive network of destinations across Southwestern Ontario, including service to Guelph via Waterdown. (See the destination signs on these pages of CCL bus pictures)
In 1993, the Region sold Canada Coach Lines to Trentway-Wager. Trentway-Wager continued Hamilton to Guelph service via Waterdown.
On July 30, 1993, The Hamilton Spectator reports the Region started a HSR 18-Waterdown route to Aldershot GO with a single daily trip to Downtown Hamilton.
An HSR spokesperson is quoted on January 31, 1994 stating the bus averaged only 256 riders per month.
Interest in the route by TheSpec matched ridership – nearly none. In mid-March, the paper ran a short story that noted the route was a one-year pilot at the cost of $65,000.
A letter to the editor in TheSpec on November 7, 1994, states the service was cancelled at the end of October 1994. There were no stories about the cancellation.
There was some debate at Regional Council about starting a new Waterdown service in 1996, but it died on costs and a proposal to levy transit charges across the Region – what we would today call ending area-rating.
From 1994 to 2009, Waterdown residents continued to use the Coach Canada’s Hamilton to Guelph service.
The service operated four trips per day and could provide a reasonable means of getting to and from McMaster or Downtown Hamilton during rush hour. (On Friday and Sunday, Coach Canada operated extra non-stop service that didn’t service Flamborough.)
The pricing was approximately $5 per trip and the service was reliable. There were student and bulk ticket discounts. I took this bus often to visit friends in Guelph during my university days. If my memory is correct, with the bulk ticket and student discounts, the price to Guelph was about $6-7 each way.
At the start of the academic year in 2007, GO Transit launched bus service between Square One in Mississauga and the University of Guelph. While this may not seem important to the Hamilton to Guelph service, it caused a shift in ridership due to cost and convenience.
Many of the Hamilton to Guelph riders were students. Prior to the GO service, there were only two buses options into the GTA from Guelph – the Highway 6 service to Hamilton or Highway 401 service into Toronto proper. Students going home to the West GTA would take the Hamilton bus and be picked up – the new Mississauga service provided a more convenient pick up point.
The Hamilton to Guelph bus serviced all the towns and villages of Flamborough. It felt like a milk run, and it was a milk run.
With only four Coach Canada trips per day, the GO ride of McMaster-Square One-Guelph was a feasible alternative. Add in that GO’s student rate was slightly cheaper and some students made the shift.
Two years later, Coach Canada announced the end of daily Hamilton-Guelph service on August 17, 2009. The final trip was October 21, 2009, leaving Waterdown with no direct connection to McMaster.
Spacing Magazine wrote about the cancellation and it’s direct relation to the expansion of GO bus services outside of the GTHA. Last year (2014) Coach Canada ended Hamilton to Niagara service.
Provincial legislation is clear: Section 11.11 of the City of Hamilton Act gives City Council responsibility and power for local transit. Section 8.1 of the Metrolinx Act makes clear that GO Transit is a regional transit system and not a local transit system.
While 8.1 of the Metrolinx Act says GO Transit may “subject to the approval of the Minister, operate local transit systems under agreements with municipalitieswithin and outside the regional transportation area”, this clause must be read to be that GO Transit operated local transit will be funded by the local tax levy.
Hamilton is a single-tier municipality. For provincial purposes, the operation of a Waterdown to Downtown Hamilton bus route is little different that the HSR 1-King route operating from Eastgate to McMaster – it does not cross any municipal boundary.
Even within a multiple tier municipality, GO Transit does not provide local transportation. Durham Transit is required to connect its own lower-tier municipalities. The GO service in Durham happens to make multiple stops in the region, but all of the lines are designed to link to regional destinations.
Niagara Region, which provides a better comparator for Waterdown service, provides local bus service connecting St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Welland, Fort Erie, and Port Colborne.
For the province to step in and operate local bus service for Waterdown would invite other municipalities – with stronger arguments such as Niagara – to offload local public transportation to GO Transit.
Partridge’s motion states GO Transit can provide Waterdown-McMaster-Downtown service because of a new bus storage facility GO is opening in Flamborough near Clappisons Corner.
The new bus storage facility is relocating some buses from the City of Hamilton owned 330 Wentworth North garage. These buses are already fully deployed to QEW and Lakeshore West service. The bus storage facility will also house buses from the 407 and Niagara routes. At present, GO buses in the West GTHA are scattered where GO can find storage.
The buses in this facility are, unfortunately, not surplus or new.
The concept of the buses providing rush hour service while travelling to/from the facility isn’t feasible either. These are buses leave the garage prior to rush hour in the morning, and don’t return until after rush hour is complete in the evening.
They are simply not available when people need to connect from Waterdown to McMaster and Downtown.
There’s also the question of who pays for the service? If GO were to provide the service, would it be most cost-effective than HSR service? How will it be put onto the tax bill?
Will it be area-rated?
How about the transit user – will they pay an HSR fare on this GO service ($2.75) or the GO Base Fare of $5.30?
This brings us to the big question – if Waterdown needs a connection to McMaster as much as Councillor Partridge believes, why isn’t she moving to have HSR service implemented?
There are many issues to consider.
Is it that local taxpayers in Waterdown are not willing to bare the cost of a tax increase for the service? After-all, that’s what killed Transcab to Binbrook.
Is it the stigma attached to the HSR? Afterall, City Council views the HSR as a social service and not as a part of a healthy moving of economic activity and people.
On the tax base side, if that’s the reason Partridge isn’t moving forward with HSR service, then her GO Transit motion is disingenuous political posturing.
If its stigma, then we need to fix the HSR.
Councillors are left to run their wards as they see fit. If Partridge really wants transit to McMaster University, a motion to area-rate the cost to Ward 15 residents will enable it to happen.
Will Partridge address bus service between Waterdown and McMaster during the 2016 budget process?

created: December 29, 2015


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Heritage Permit Review Sub-Committee for December 2015 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

December 13, 2015
The Heritage Permit Review Sub-Committee meets on Tuesday to consider a heritage renovation permit on St. Clair Avenue and review City plans for restoration of twelve lanterns on the McQueenston High Level Bridge on York Blvd.
The meeting is Tuesday, December 15, 2015 in Room 264 at Hamilton City Hall and open to the public.
Note The Public Record will not be able to cover the meeting, we are returning to full City Hall coverage in January when the Ontario Ombudsman gains oversight of City Council.
Full Agenda: 2015-12-15 Heritage Permit Review Subcommittee Agenda FINAL

created: December 13, 2015


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In Winnipeg, Landmark Anglican Church Embarks on Development Similar to Hamilton's Cathedral Place – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

December 23, 2015
A heritage designed Anglican parish, a historic landmark in the heart of a vibrant downtown connected corridor, and a plan to build an eight-storey residential building that will generate needed funds for the revival and survival of the congregation that calls the church building home.
This is the story of both Hamilton’s Anglican Cathedral Place and Winnipeg’s All Saints Church.
The Winnipeg Free Press feature’s the All Saints project in a story that reads almost the same as our Cathedral Place.
The similarities between the two churches and projects are many.
Both parishes say the project is required to infuse the church with funds for needed capital upgrades, as well, the condo will provide for long term sustainability by creating more commercial and community activity
Both churches are major landmarks in their respective cities and located on major corridors into their downtown core. (See Streetview embed below of All Saints)
Our Cathedral Place is in the heart of the James North Commercial district, just north of the Core. All Saints is just south of the Downtown Core at the foot of Osborne North which is a vibrant district with many similarities to James.
Adding to All Saints landmark status in Winnipeg, it is directly across from the provincial legislative building and located on the Trans-Canada Highway.
Both parishes have thrown open their doors to the community, offering services and providing space. They are more than just a place of Sunday worship, they are the hub of community and social services serving their downtown areas of need.
Both congregations are concerned that without the redevelopment plan, they won’t be able to afford to maintain their existing property.
Winnipeg’s plans are in their infancy, they just received a $10,000 grant from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to start their planning process.
In Hamilton, Cathedral Place has been to the City Hall’s Design Review Panel, been reviewed by staff at the Development Review Team, has a City Council approved negotiation with the City for the purchase of the small municipal parking lot.
The Diocese says they are making many changes to the plans and the original plans presented in 2014 are not a present reflection of the architectural plans for the project. I’m watching the planning file for updates. For more on the Hamilton Cathedral Place proposal, visit The Public Record’s topic page for the project.

created: December 23, 2015


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Found Safe: Hamilton Police End Missing Person Bulletin – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

December 5, 2015
Hamilton Police report the missing senior was found on the morning of Sunday, December 6, 2015 and is safely back with his family.

created: December 5, 2015


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Numeris Fall 2015 numbers show significant AM decline in Hamilton, battle for FM lead between K-Lite and KX – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

December 7, 2015
Numeris’ released its Fall 2015 radio diary markets report last week and the numbers show a continuing decline in listening time for Hamilton’s AM radio stations, and significant growth for CHKXFM (KX 94.7FM).
Radio listenership is measured using three different numbers in the Numeris report – Share, Central Market Area Reach, and Full Coverage Reach.
Depending on the measure, either KX or K-Lite is Hamilton’s top radio station. KX claims the Share title for the first time, while K-Lite remains firmly in the leader for total reach in Hamilton. (Expect both of them to market themselves as the leader.)
KX overtook long-time Hamilton’s radio leader CKLHFM (K-Lite 102.9FM) to become the Hamilton total listening Share leader at 9.6% compared to 7.9%. In the Spring 2015 report, KX was second with 8.0% compared to K-Lite’s 10.6%.
The change in share reflects increase length of listening for KX, which actually saw its total Hamilton/Burlington listeners slightly drop during the reporting
Numeris states Share represents “Within the central market area [Hamilton proper], the estimated total hours tuned to that station expressed as a percentage of total hours tuned to all radio”.
K-Lite remains the most listened to station in Hamilton/Burlington proper when measured by total number of people listening for at least 15 minutes per week with an estimated reach of 110,300 listeners. KX reaches an estimated 83,400.
Within their full coverage area (KX broadcasts at 40000watts, K-Lite 40300watts) KX reaches an estimated 278,400 listeners and K-Lite an estimated 143,500 listeners.
KX is the only country music format in the Toronto and Hamilton market, wheres there are numerous adult contemporary stations competing with K-Lite.
Less than 1% of Hamiltonians radio listening time is given to either CHAM (Funny 820AM) or CKOC (TSN Radio 1150AM) – both hold 0.9% Share with CKOC’s Share dropping from 2.9% in Spring 2015 when it was playing an “Oldies” music format.
Numeris measured listenership from September 7 to November 1, after CKOC’s switch on Labour Day. Year-over-year, CKOC’s share drop is even more significant from 4.8% in the Fall 2014 report.
Hamilton’s other AM station, 900 CHML, dropped to 4.6% Share from 5.7% in Spring 2015, while its total Hamilton reach remained steady.
Numeris reports of radio listenership are available on their website here.

created: December 7, 2015


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One Month After Getting Extension, De Caire Announces Retirement – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

December 18, 2015
There are no take backs this time, Hamilton’s Chief of Police Glenn De Caire is retiring – a month after a hard fought battle to continue as Chief.
De Caire’s retirement is effective Sunday, January 17, 2016.
He is leaving policing to become the next Director of Parking and Security Services at McMaster University.
De Caire previously announced his retirement in September 2013 before rescinding the decision in 2014. The Board granted him a contract extension subject to a one-year review.
The review occurred in November of this year, and the result was a 7-0 Police Board decision to extend De Caire for two years.
In an open letter to the community posted on the Hamilton Police Service website, De Caire writes:
It has been an honour to serve you.  The gift I have received has been my career and the privilege I have had has been the ability to serve the people of Hamilton and our members.  I am humbled to have been able to partake in this incredible journey for almost 36 years and as your Chief of Police since 2009.

created: December 18, 2015


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Ottawa Provides Model for Election Compliance Cmte Appointments in Hamilton – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

December 28, 2015
We need to de-politicize the appointment of Hamilton’s Elections Compliance Audit Committee to create public confidence in the process of municipal electoral oversight.
To call Hamilton’s current Elections Compliance Audit Committee a farce would be generous.
Our compliance committee, presented with clear violations of the Municipal Act by two candidates who failed to complete audit returns, choose to ignore the violations.
Week’s later, after outside intervention, Hamilton’s City Clerk was forced to act on the violations and the two candidates who failed to submit audits were banned from seeking municipal office in 2018. (To my knowledge. neither of them appealed the decision)
Hamilton’s committee chair, Ross Anderson, could barely coordinate a meeting, was dismissive of complaints, apologetic towards candidates facing review, and numerous times declared the committee’s role isn’t to be the sheriff of election compliance.
Anderson, for whom a biography is not available on the City website or any past Council report, was appointed by City Councillors in 2004 and been renewed by Council ever since.
Why Mr. Anderson had difficulties with his role is not known, as per Hamilton’s Council’s standard operating practice, we don’t know what if any training is provided to the members or why Council’s choose the current members as none of their qualifications are included in any public Council minutes.
The committee’s poor performance, dismissal of two clear violations, and appointment by Council in an unclear political process all result in an election oversight committee which fails to meet the appearances needed for public confidence in our local election process.
This doesn’t serve anyone, least of all the candidates “cleared” of any violations by the committee. Being elected in a democracy is about more than just getting the most ballots into the box, there is the need for legitimacy in addition – hence why we have rules in our elections and strive for independent oversight of those rules.
Let’s compare to Ottawa.
In Ottawa, the Election Compliance Audit Committee is proceeding with prosecution of a sitting City Councillor.
I can’t imagine any circumstance in which Hamilton’s committee would prosecute any potential violation of the Act.
We should pause on the fact there is a prosecution to not only stress the need for due process, but also the fact that the Municipal Elections Act is in desperate need of updating and revision to both reflect changes to campaigning in the past decade and the ambiguity of numerous sections of the act.
Here’s what’s really interesting about Ottawa’s committee, the people on it are fully qualified and the chair is likely the most qualified candidate for electoral oversight of any possible person.
The Ottawa committee is chaired by Jean-Pierre Kingsley, the former head of Elections Canada. The other members include:
Even the alternate member’s qualifications are impressive as the former City Clerk for Cumberland.
Hamilton City Council’s interpretation of the Municipal Act is often unique among Ontario’s 444 municipalities, especially on the accountability and transparency clauses of the Act.
Most of these municipalities go out of their way to de-politicize oversight processes and to ensure a professional de-politicized civil service.
In Hamilton, the Election Compliance Audit Committee is chosen directly by City Councillors on the Selection Committee and then rubber stamped by Council.
In Ottawa, the selection process to a three person staff committee consisting of the City Clerk and Solicitor (one person), the Auditor General (an independent officer of Council), and the Deputy City Clerk.
This non-political panel then advises Council of the appointments in a report which includes the qualifications of committee appointees.
We need to fix our committee appointment process to ensure public confidence.
Ottawa’s process ensures the process is depoliticized. That should be the first step here in Hamilton.
In terms of the quality of candidates, Ottawa benefits from being the seat of the federal government. Hamilton is in the Golden Horseshoe and enjoys a much larger pool of potential candidates.
What is clear, we need to have a discussion of how to improve Hamilton’s committee before the 2018 election.


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2016 City of Hamilton Operating Budget Review: 3.5% Increase Over 2015, 2.3% Preliminary Tax Increase – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 4, 2016
The City’s 2016 operating budget books are now public and senior city staff are forecasting a 2.3% tax increase for a budget maintaining the status quo from 2015.
Overall, a maintenance budget will increase spending by 3.5%.
City staff expect property assessment growth of 1.3% which brings the 3.5% to the tax increase forecast of 2.3%. In the budget report, staff write they are “confident that growth of 1.3%, p0ssibly more, will be achieved. The forecast was 1% in September.
At this stage in the budget process, the preliminary tax increase serves more as a discussion point than an actual useful number due to the number of variables and unknowns.
The preliminary budget makes assumptions and does not include what Council calls enhancements – new services or expansion of existing services.
Boards & Agencies approve their budgets separately. Thus far, the Hamilton Police Service and Hamilton Public Library are below increase forecasts. The preliminary budget increase forecast expected a 3.8% budget increase from Police, the budget is 2.79%.
The Library was expected to request an increase of $293,070, they are asking for $236,270. The Police Service increase was excepted to be $5,608,870 – it is $734,684 less at $4,874,186.
The City’s preliminary budget does not include the full request of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority. The City is appealing a change to NPCA’s levy calculation which sees the City charged $686,000 more per year than in the past. The matter is in front of the Ontario Mining and Lands Commissioner. Depending on when a ruling is made, this could impact the 2016 budget.
The biggest departmental increases in the budget are in the Corporate Services department’s financial section, followed by Mayor and Councillor’s offices.
The increase in Councillors’ and the Mayor’s offices does not include the 33% pay change calculation from the elimination of 1/3rd tax-free and the increase of 33% to their pensions.
Here’s a list of the increase percentages and amount in bracket when needed for context.
During 2015, Council referred numerous initiatives and funding requests to the budget process. None of these are included in the increases above. If Council approves them, the cost will be additional to the present 2.3% tax increase forecast.
Among the highlights are:
A big missing item in the budget is the second year of the 10-year transit strategy. Continuing a tradition of withholding critical budget information from the public, the full HSR proposal to increase service is not including in the budget book.
No date is yet announced for this reveal.
The current Transit budget increase in the Public Works ledger is $4,219,390 or 3.9%. With HSR and DARTS fare increases, $3,107,850 of this increase will be picked up by Transit users.
The total Transit increase on the tax levy, for maintenance of the status quo, is $1,111,530 or 1.9%.
The costs to develop a marketing strategy for the two municipal golf courses is not included in the budget book. It will be presented later in the budget process.

created: January 4, 2016


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235 Rebecca Situation Will Test Long-Term City Response – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 11, 2016
Just before 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning, a standpipe in the fire protection system on the sixth floor of 235 Rebecca St, a 17-storey rental building in Downtown Hamilton.
The water caused extensive damage, forcing the shutdown of all building systems including heat, hydro, and water. An estimated 400 residents are displaced and the City’s Emergency Operations Centre is coordinating a response that includings the opening of a temporary shelter at Bennetto Recreation Centre.
235 Rebecca is one of Hamilton’s many apartment buildings which have not undergone major renovations since they were built in the 60s and 70s – the result being that the rents in the building are at or near below the market average during a time in which Hamilton facing an affordability crisis.
Many in the building are just getting by, this emergency is a crisis for them. For those living in the bottom six floors – where every apartment was flooded and household items damaged – this flood lives them with nowhere and lacking the resources to recover without substantive supports.
These are people who live with tough choices, one of them being the choice between insurance or food. The result, many are without apartment insurance.
The City response thus far is commendable, especially early Sunday morning as the Hamilton Fire Department initially commanded the scene and quickly mobilized resources.
Within minutes of arriving at the building, the Fire Captains from Station 1 upgraded the response, the senior command was notified, police and paramedics brought to the scene to assist residents evacuating, and the decision made to activate the City’s emergency operations centre to mobilize supports for the residents. The Hamilton Street Railway and Red Cross both quickly arrived on scene.
At the time of this writing, Monday morning, power is restored to floors seven to 17. None of the other essential services – heat and water – are restored and all building residents remain displaced.
The City is operating an emergency shelter at Bennetto recreation centre. It is hoped that residents of the upper floors will be able to return to their apartments in the next few days.
For residents on the lower six floors, there will be a need for longer term supports as those apartments are likely to need extensive restoration due to water damage (which could be worsen by freezing due to lack of heat) and the residents face replacing belonging damaged.
The City will need to support these approximately 125 residents in the coming month and this will a story I’ll watch closely here on The Public Record.

created: January 11, 2016


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Better Batteries Will Change Public Policy And Impact Local Taxes – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 5, 2016
A great read in the Christian Science Monitor from last year that I failed to share about the coming revolution in batteries .. yes batteries.
At present, batteries are extremely limited in the energy they can store. In the future, it is hoped they’ll become much more efficient enabling the storage of power for longer periods of time.
Better batteries will slowly enable households and businesses to disconnect from the electric grid, which will have significant impact on public policy and finances.
In Ontario, Hydro rates continues to significantly increase to pay for past debts, infrastructure maintenance, and distribution costs among many expenses covered by hydro users.
What happens when people significantly decrease their use of electricity or completely disconnect from the grid?
How will Hydro’s debt be retired? What becomes of all the people employed in Hydro?
In Hamilton, Council is expecting $3.8-million per year from the new merged electrical utility that Horizon Utilities is part of. That’s the equivalent of a 1% tax increase.
The technological revolutions underway in our society are exciting. The key political question of our time is how do we respond?

created: January 5, 2016


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Councillor's Call Farmers' Market Board Behaviour "Reprehensible", Move to Study Citizen Committee Term Limits – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 17, 2016
City Councillors on the Governance Review (Accountability and Transparency) Sub-Committee voted to study citi
During the Governance Committee meeting of January 16, 2016, Councillors reluctantly accepted the resignation of a citizen member appointed to the Farmers’ Market Board. (Video of discussion starts at 13:28)
When Council formed a new farmer’s market board, it appeared the tensions over changes implemented following renovations to the market would decrease.
Instead, the conflict between long-time market vendors and Council became worse when vendors objected to one of the citizen appointees added to the Board by Council.
Vendors objected because the appointee works for the City of Hamilton as an Ontario Works Case Manager and they believed she would vote with the Councillors on the Board because of this relationship.
After much tension, the citizen appointee resigned from the Market Board.
Councillors Lloyd Ferguson and Matthew Green both voiced their concerns about what transpired, with Green saying there is an example of entrenched cultures which can exist on Boards with long-standing citizen members who are reappointed without term limits.
Councillors followed their discussion of the Farmers’ Market Board issue by voting to get staff to prioritize the review of term limits on Citizen Committees.
Councillors are looking to limit citizen committee to two Council terms (presently eight years) to avoid the kind of entrenched culture that exists on some committees and to encourage more people to apply to serve on committees.
Numerous ideas of changes were discussed by the committee. (Watch that discussion starts at 42:45 in the video.)

created: January 17, 2016


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Per Diems for RCF Increased, Funded Spaces Decreased to Maintain Budget. – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 18, 2016
This article is updated and corrected, see note at end.
In 2015, the City  increased the per diem for its subsidized residential care facilities (RCFs) from $48.25 to $50, and scaling back the number of subsidies to afford the increase without increasing the overall budget in 2016.
The City will now fund 740 spaces instead of the previous 765 spaces
The per diem was increased starting two years ago in response to RCF operators saying the previous rate of $47.75 was not sufficient to cover the cost of providing city mandated servicess.
During the January 18, 2016, Emergency and Community Services meeting, Councillors heard a delegation from Calvin Cain of the Ontario Homes for Special Needs Association who expressed concern about the impact of decreasing the number of subsidized spaces funded by the City.
Councillors heard the delegation, discussed the background of the funding change, and noted they are calling on the province to increase funding for RCFs spaces.
CORRECTION: The increase was already approved. The report at this meeting was information for Council. It was received with no amendments.

created: January 18, 2016


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Downtown Task Force Committee for January 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 7, 2016
The Downtown Task Force Committee held it’s regular meeting with an update on environment cleanliness efforts and an update on crime trends (down) from the Hamilton Police Service.
Here’s what happened in the meeting:
(2:45 to 17:00)
Hamilton’s Downtown Task Force feels crime in the downtown is heading in the right direction – down. Members of the Task Force are concerned about graffiti and break-ins.
A recent spate of commercial break-ins is causing concerns for downtown business with many shops along James Street. Graffiti vandalism is another major concern.
Some of the businesses that have been victims include inside the City Centre, 25 Main Street West, Steve’s Open Kitchen, Butcher and Vegan, Christ Church Cathedral, and Great Red Pepper.
Hamilton Police says they are working to address these crimes.
(17:00 to 1:00:00)
The Barton BIA and other commercial outside the primary downtown core are looking for better sidewalk cleaning and power washing. The problem? Money.
The most productive discussion of the meeting, the discussion was about how to address cleanliness challenges in business areas. Cigarette butts are a major concern and difficult to clean.
At present, in the area bound by Wellington Street to the east, Bay Street to the west, Hunter to the south, and Murray to the north, the City provides extensive seven-day-a-week cleaning services including sidewalk sweeping, power washing, and litter pickup.
Staff say there is 41,800 metres of sidewalks within those boundaries and it costs approximated $41 per metre of sidewalk for the annual service at a total cost of $1,713,832.
In addition to the primary service area, the City provides a lesser level of cleanliness services from the Escarpment to Water, Wellington Street to Queen Street.
A request to expand service to the Barton Village BIA was presented to the committee. Staff say providing the downtown level of service to the BIA will have an operating cost of $180,000 per year, with a one-time capital expense of $100,000.
Public Works stated they do not have any budget to expand to the Barton Village BIA.
Glen Norton, the city’s manager of urban renewal, then entered into the discussion and says there are funds available in the urban renewal budget for increased sidewalk power washing in the Barton and Kenilworth corridor as the City targets the area for renewal. (46:15)
The International Village was struck by vandalism shortly before Christmas as a vandal defaced numerous buildings in the Downtown with up to 20 foot high graffiti tags.
Hamilton Police are investigating, due to the ongoing police investigation, at the request of the International Village BIA, I did not record this portion of the meeting.
After much discussion about the problem and that cleanup will cost thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars, the Downtown Task Force is requesting an update from Hamilton Police to determine how to catch this vandal.
The committee spent the majority of its time debating its mandate and purpose. There is a lot of confusion about the committee’s role in the new term. Nothing was concluded and they decided – after much angst – to table the discussion.
The next meeting date is undetermined.

created: January 7, 2016


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Everyone Can Be Happy with 100% Metrolinx Control, Even City Council – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 20, 2016
OPINION
I can’t think of the anytime Hamiltonians weren’t divided on a LRT decision, but this week’s confirmation that Metrolinx will be make all the decisions about, build, and operate Hamilton’s new LRT is attracting no dissent in Hamilton.
Not even a comment about dreaded Toronto bureaucrats making decisions in Hamilton.
And why would there be dissent?
Among LRT advocates, Metrolinx is already the saviour who descended from Toronto to give Hamilton LRT despite all the fumbling of the file by City Hall since 2010.
LRT opponents are resigned to the thing being built.
For City Council, they can’t lose.
All criticism during construction can be directed to Metrolinx, in advance of construction, Council can complain to Metrolinx and position themselves without the burden of responsibly to make construction work.
King Street blocked for construction? “We warned Metrolinx to not to that!” can be the response of City Council.
If they had to be responsible for the building of the LRT, Council would need to explain the necessity of construction closures.
If things are working, Council can claim credit by saying it is the result of their input.
Either way, Council can’t lose.
So, at the end of the day, Council is relieved of the burden of responsible governance, Hamilton gets LRT, and the Province is assured that its largest economic development project in Hamilton will be firmly controlled by Metrolinx.

created: January 20, 2016


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First Look at Renderings and Plans for New HWDSB Lower City High School and Bernie Morelli Recreation Centre – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 2, 2016
Just before Christmas (2015), the Planning Departments Development Review Team held a meeting to look at plans for the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board’s planned high school at 1055 King Street East and the City of Hamilton’s planned Bernie Morelli Recreation Centre at 876 Cannon Street East.
The proposals are being considered jointly as they will share the entire city block bound by King, Melrose, Cannon, and Balsam. Both buildings are separate and will not share any utilities or other critical infrastructure.
The new HWDSB lower city school is proposed to be three stories with technical education space on the first floor east wing. The gymnasium and multi-use rooms are located on the first floor west wing with an entrance that will allow this area to be isolated from the rest of the building for public use outside of school hours.
The site plans show a separate third LRT track to be built off street at the front of the high school. This will enable the stationing of a LRT train for crowds leaving the stadium and possible use of a “school extra” train at the beginning of rush hour to handle the capacity crunch during end of school day dismissal.
With the HWDSB hoping to have the high school open for 2018, this could be third track could be the first part of the LRT built.
Another interesting part of the plans is a proposed running track on the second level directly above the gymnasium. With both the new high school and recreation centres proposing running tracks, it is possible one will be removed between the two buildings as the plans progress and budget savings are sought.
Proposed at two storeys, the new recreation centre will feature its own pool with a pedestrian connect to the historic Jimmy Thompson pool, making for two pools in the overall recreation facility.
Originally proposed as a seniors centre, the building is now a full recreation centre including a full gymnasium, dance rooms, multiple purpose room, cafeteria, kitchen, youth room, and billiards room in addition to the new pool. A running track is proposed on the second floor above the gym.
The renderings also show a common courtyard – on the City portion of the property – connecting the two facilities and designed to provide public space for events related to the stadium.
Parking for the new high school will be at 60 Balsam Avenue North, the former Parkview Secondary site. The urban design brief for the joint projects states the intersection of Balsam and Cannon may require a traffic light to serve pedestrian and vehicle traffic to the new facilities.
The City of Hamilton will issue public notices for a Planning Committee hearing on the proposal. No tentative date is yet set for the hearing.

created: January 2, 2016


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Front Row Entertainment Wins Library Contract for "In The Round" – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 4, 2016
The Hamilton Public Library’s “In The Round” concert series returns for 2016 under the direction of Front Row Entertainment.
The City’s chief librarian reports to the Library Board that the Library circulated a formal Request for Proposal to area music promoters and that Front Row Entertainment won the competition.
The first “In The Round” of 2016 is scheduled for March 11th when The Trews are scheduled to perform.


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Green Issues Notice for Vision Zero in Hamilton – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 19, 2016
Council will debate a motion to have Public Works look at road safety best practices, including Vision Zero, to decrease the number of injuries and fatalities on Hamilton’s 6,399 kilometres of road.
Ward 3 Councillor Matthew Green made the notice of motion at Tuesday, January 19, 2016 capital budget meeting following a staff update on bicycle infrastructure on the Claremont Access.
Following the December 2, 2015 death of cyclist Jay Keddy on the Claremont Access, Councillors asked staff to update on plans for cycling infrastructure on the route.
Instead of repeating content, I recommend reading Ryan McGreal’s piece entitled “Councillor Green to Introduce Vision Zero Motion” for more detail on Vision Zero.
The following is the text of Green’s notice of motion. You can view Green’s introduction by following this video link.
City of Hamilton
Notice of Motion
Moved by Councillor: Matthew Green
City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services, in consultation with other City divisions, as appropriate, to report to the Public Works committee in coordination with the Transportation Master Plan, with a comprehensive plan to improve road safety, including but not limited to:
a) A review of best practice from comparable jurisdictions, including Vision Zero;
b) A review of existing City policies, strategies and guidelines that touch on road safety;
c) An enhanced analysis of City-wide traffic collision data;
d) Specific recommendations to improve road safety, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists, over the short, medium and long terms;
e) An implementation plan and funding strategy, as appropriate;
f) A regular reporting mechanism to track progress;
g) Continued consultation with the Hamilton Cycling Committee, HWDSB, HWDCSB, Hamilton Board of Public Health, Hamilton Police Services, Cycle Hamilton, and ACPD advisory Committee;
h) The creation of a Road Safety Task force to be led by Transportation Services.
The motion will come forth to the Friday, January 22, 2016 General Issues Committee meeting.

created: January 19, 2016


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Hamilton Advisory Committee for Persons with Disabilities, January 12, 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 8, 2016
January’s ACPD committee meeting saw a lively discussion of accessible taxis and the lack of accessible washrooms on the Hamilton Beach Front Trail.
Director of Licensing Ken Leendertse spoke with the committee about accessible taxis, hearing complaints from ACPD members about taxis not showing up or being dispatched in a timely manner.
Of note, Leendertse told the committee that he is considering asking Council to approve the issuing of six new accessible taxi plates per year for the next three years to increase the number of designated accessible taxis in Hamilton to 34 from the present 16.
Accessible taxi plates are issued to drivers on the waiting list for new plates. At present, the City only allows for 447 licensed taxi plates.
On accessible washrooms, staff committed to adding motors to the doors for accessibility and to ensure future builds meet accessibility standards. No timelines were committed to, with staff citing the cost of improvements and the city’s deferred infrastructure deficit.
You can also download the full 25 page agenda package as a PDF.

created: January 8, 2016


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Hamilton Audit Finance and Administration Committee for January 18, 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 18, 2016
To call this week’s AFA agenda light would be to make light seem heavy – with only two items which may cause discussion and the other two items being housekeeping, the committee could take less than 15 minutes to complete its business.
The City’s 2015 Provincial Gas Tax Funding Agreement and a delegation request from Shekar Chandrashekar to discuss the scope of an External Audit of the Hamilton Police Service are the two items of discussion.
On housekeeping, the Treasurer’s Apportionment of Land Taxes (updates to tax rolls for changes in assessment) and the 2016 Interim Tax Levy and Temporary Borrowing Bylaws are the other two items on the agenda.
Live video on The Public Record starts at 9:30am


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Hamilton Board of Health for January 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 11, 2016
Council returned from Christmas break with their first Board of Health meeting for 2016.
Senior’s dental programs, community health promotion in disadvantaged communities, and restructuring of health care with the elimination of the CCACs were the main topics of discussion at today’s meeting.
The City is launching a pilot project to improve knowledge of oral health among caregivers for seniors who are not able to access services due to mobility or health issues.
The City will work to have personal support worker teaching institutions improve knowledge of oral health for students, increase outreach to long-term care facilities, and will work with the city-run Macassa Lodge to launch a fluoride varnish program as a preventative measure to prevent cavities in vulnerable seniors.
Many councillors, including Jackson and Whitehead, want to see a larger program in more facilities and in the community.
Staff will report back in a year on this pilot.


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Hamilton Business Improvement Area Advisory Committee for January 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 12, 2016
The Hamilton Business Improvement Area Advisory Committee discussed City sponsorship revenue opportunities, revisions to the licensing bylaw, and the planned homelessness 20KHomes Point in Time Count.
Full replay video at the top of the story.

created: January 12, 2016


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Hamilton City Council Capital Budget Meeting for January 19, 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 19, 2016
Council received a presentation on bicycle infrastructure on the Claremont Access and approved the 2016 capital budget.
Full replay video:


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Hamilton City Council for January 20, 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 20, 2016
A quick Council meeting to complete the first Council Committee cycle of 2016 with Councillors ratifying their committee work of the past two weeks. Full Replay video.
Hamilton Emergency and Community Services Committee for January 18, 2016 – end of stop gap funding for the Trusteeship Program, RCF per diems.
Hamilton Audit Finance and Administration Committee from January 18, 2016 – Housekeeping Items
General Issues Committee from January 13, 2016 – which includes the deferral of Councillor Ferguson’s motion to extend sewer service to ARYZTA Bakery.
Hamilton Planning Committee from January 12, 2016 – Parking on lawns, wrong-way parking, 20 Artfrank Drive (Stoney Creek),  101 Shoreview Place (Green Millen Shores, Stoney Creek), and 149.5 Sherman Avenue North (Habitat for Humanity, Hamilton).
Hamilton Board of Health from January 11, 2016 – Seniors Dental Care.


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Hamilton City Council GIC for January 13, 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 13, 2016
Above: Part I of the GIC meeting. Below: Part II of the meeting (Note: Council began proceedings before allowing the public to enter the Chamber)
In just over an hour, Council completed the public portion of their only General Issues Committee in January. The one item they debated showed the power of Citizens at City Hall as Councillors deferred a decision on extending municipal water service to a rural located bakery in Ancaster.
Earlier in the week, CATCH wrote an excellent analysis of the proposal being brought to GIC by Ward 12 Councillor Lloyd Ferguson.
From the CATCH piece entitled “Breaking the Rules”:
The motion notes the city approved a water pipe to the Carluke Road bakery a decade ago – a hotly debated decision characterized as “against all the rules” by then councillor Dave Braden. Providing water and/or sewer services to properties outside the urban boundary still appears to be against the rules.
“The Province requires municipalities to prohibit the extension or expansion of lake-based municipal services to all rural areas, except in response to public health emergencies,” states the city’s current official plan. “No extensions of the municipal lake-based water and wastewater systems shall be permitted into rural area lands detailed in this Plan unless the Medical Officer of Health declares an urgent public health emergency and there are no viable alternatives to rectify the emergency except by the provision of municipal water and/or wastewater systems to the affected population.”
Neither ARYZTA nor Pineridge are listed on the city’s lobbyist registry, and only three companies have thus far even indicated they intend to lobby councillor Ferguson, so it’s unclear why he has put forward this personal motion. A controversial exception to the registry rules that allows “communication with a public officer holder by their constituent regarding that constituent’s business or financial interest” might have applied before Oakrun was sold, but seems inapplicable to a huge multi-national.
Ferguson was running late to the GIC meeting and was not present when discussion of his motion began.
Mayor Fred Eisenberger moved the motion in his place, and the debate began with Ward 11 Councillor Brenda Johnson saying she could not support this exception at the same time as the City is denying extensions of municipal water to rural homeowners.
“I simply can’t support this because I know I’ll have many residents coming up behind saying ‘Why not me?'”, Councillor Brenda Johnson closed her argument.

created: January 13, 2016


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Hamilton City Council Operating Budget Meeting for January 22, 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 22, 2016
Councillors will receive presentations from the City Manager’s Office and Corporate Services on their 2016 budget requests. Following this, they’ll debate a Vision Zero motion from Councillor Matthew Green.
Replay Video.

created: January 22, 2016


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Hamilton Council GIC Budget for January 26, 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 26, 2016
Council meets as budget committee today to hear the budget presentations of the conservations authorities (Hamilton, Halton, Niagara, and Grand River) as well as the presentations of the Beach Rescue Unit and the Royal Botanical Gardens.
The meeting starts at 9:30am and we’ll broadcast live.

created: January 26, 2016


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Hamilton Council GIC Budget for January 27, 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 27, 2016
City Councillors meet in Budget GIC to receive the 2016 budget requests from the Hamilton Public Library and the Hamilton Police Service.
Live video starts at 9:30am on The Public Record.

created: January 27, 2016


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Hamilton Council GIC Budget for January 29, 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 29, 2016
City Councillors meet in Budget GIC to receive the 2016 budget requests from the Public Health and Planning & Economic Development
Live video starts at 9:30am on The Public Record.

created: January 29, 2016


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Hamilton Election Compliance Audit Committee for January 16, 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 17, 2016
The Hamilton Election Compliance Audit Committee meet to hear two complaints about the election returns of Councillors Jason Farr and Terry Whitehead.
Following the meeting, they quickly dismissed the complaints.


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Hamilton Emergency and Community Services Committee for January 18, 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 18, 2016
Funding for Trusteeship Programs will dominate today’s meeting with many residents expected to attend to call on the City to make permanent temporary stop-gap funding the City implemented in place of federal funding.
The meeting starts at 1:30pm and The Public Record will carry it live in the video box above.


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Hamilton Fire Chief Rob Simonds Takes CAO Position in Nova Scotia – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 7, 2016
Hamilton’s Fire Chief Rob Simonds is the next chief administrative officer of the Municipality of Colchester County in Nova Scotia.
He will start in Nova Scotia on April 4, 2016.
Joe-Anne Priel, general manager of emergency and community services for the City of Hamilton, wrote in an email to City Council:
Dear Mr. Mayor and Members of Council,
Please join me in congratulating Rob Simonds in his appointment as the CAO for the Municipality of Colchester County in Nova Scotia effective April 4!
I knew as soon as I read Rob’s letter when he applied for the Fire Chief’s position in Hamilton that  we would be lucky to have him join our team.  I could feel his humility, honour, strong personal values and professional integrity in that letter.  He has demonstrated all of these qualities as the Chief of our Fire Service with a strong commitment to his staff and to our community and has instilled his values into the department’s hiring practices and culture.
I have no doubt that Rob will serve the Mayor and Council of Colchester well – he is a strong leader, committed to excellence and public service.  I am very sorry to see him leave but I know that this is a great decision for him professionally and personally.
Congratulations Rob – I wish you and your family all the best.
Sincerely
Joe-Anne
The email was released by the City Manager’s Office in response to a request for comment from The Public Record.
Simonds came to Hamilton with 30 years experience as a firefighter in Saint John, New Brunswick where he was the fire chief.
As Hamilton’s fire chief, he was known for being on scene at the majority of multiple alarm fires.
Simonds earned the respect of firefighters on the job and their admiration off duty. He was known for introducing himself to firefighters off-duty.
One evening, dining at Bronzie’s downtown, a group of off-duty firefighters went to pay their bill to discover the chief had already paid their tab – Simonds had been dining a few tables down from them.
He was on scene for the second largest fire in Hamilton’s modern history, the November 14, 2012 fire at a Dundas tire distribution factory.
Over the course of the battle to contain the fire, every fire truck in Hamilton – with the exception of one stationed in Stoney Creek – were deployed to fight the fire.
The chief, in an unprecedented decision, called in volunteer firefighters to use tankers to shuttle extra water to fight the fire. This was the first time a rural fire resources wer used in fighting a fire within the City’s water distribution area.
I wish to thank this opportunity to thank Simonds’ for the professional relationship with The Public Record.
During fires, he always ensured updates flowed to media at the scene and was responsive to questions.
Numerous times, he agreed to live interviews at scenes.
One of his legacies is the decision to make fire dispatch information public on the @HFD_Incidents twitter account.


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Hamilton Future Fund Board of Governors Meeting, Thurs January 14, 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 8, 2016
What’s happening with Future Fund funded projects at Auchmar, the Cannon Knitting Mill, Waterdown Memorial Hall, and the Library’s “Love Your City” project?
That’s the question the Future Fund Board of Governors is looking to answer at their first meeting of 2016.
The meeting is Thursday, January 14, 2016 at 2 p.m. in room 264 of City Hall.
The Public Record will be at the meeting and will record the meeting in its entirety.
Full Agenda (PDF Download)


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Hamilton Governance Review (Accountability and Transparency) Committee for January 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 17, 2016
Council’s Governance Committee (responsible for accountability and transparency) meet to discuss municipal proclamations in Hamilton, a ban on corporate and union donations to municipal candidates, remote online attendance for Councillors to vote at meetings, and resignation from the Farmers’ Market Board which lead to a debate on term limits for citizen committees.
Council voted to get a more detailed staff report on municipal proclamations, voted to take no action on banning union or corporation donations, asked for staff to further research remote online attendance in meetings, accepted – with reservations – the resignation from the Farmers’ Market Board, and asked for a future staff report on limiting citizen appointees to committees to two successive council terms (8 years).
Full Agenda PDF
More in-depth:
There is a more in-depth The Public Record story from this meeting on the Farmers’ Market Board and Citizen Committee Term Limits:
Councillor’s Call Farmers’ Market Board Behaviour “Reprehensible”, Move to Study Citizen Committee Term Limits


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Hamilton Light Rail Transit Committee for January 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 25, 2016
Councillors will meet to approve the MoA with Metrolinx for construction of Hamilton’s Light Rail Transit lines.
Replay video.

created: January 25, 2016


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Hamilton Planning Committee for January 12, 2016 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

January 12, 2016
Planning Committee debated wrong-way facing parking, parking on front lawns and five planning applications.
Full Replay Video at the top of the story.
Councillors discussed two staff reports on parking – one on wrong-way faced parking and the other on lawn parking.
The City will now fine individuals who park their vehicles on front lawns, with the exception of events at the new city stadium and the Winona Peach Festival.
The bylaw is city-wide, but was developed in response to problems of lawn parking in West Hamilton as many student houses lack on-site parking and on-street parking is heavily regulated around McMaster University.
The new fine will be $100 which is the maximum the City is allowed to charge using the Administrative Penalty System under the Municipal Act
Officially, it’s against City of Hamilton By-law 01-218 to park your vehicle facing the wrong way. However, “since at least the 1960s”, the City only enforces this bylaw upon complaint and parking facing the wrong way is a common practice in Hamilton.
Every once in awhile, the City receives a complaint about wrong-way parking and goes out to enforce the bylaw. People who get ticketed are outraged, it becomes a political issue at City Hall, and becomes a community discussion.
In July 2013, City Council asked for staff to report on how many tickets the Hamilton Police Service is issuing after HPS issued a bunch of tickets. They wanted HPS to not enforce the bylaw except by complaint – the same as City bylaw practice.
As we enter 2016, City staff reported back to Planning Committee.
The result?
Status quo – HPS will continue to enforce bylaws. HPS notes that city parking bylaws are a low priority of the police service. Which is reflected in that about 10 percent of wrong-way facing parking tickets are issued by HPS and the rest by City bylaw.
Council did not change the bylaw to allow wrong-way parking, meaning we’ll likely repeat this story in a few years time.
Councillors voted to deny a request from the owner of the former Elfrida Church to have the building removed from the Register of Property of Cultural Heritage Value or Interest and to continue plans to eventually give the building a heritage designation.
The Late Gothic Revival architectural style building was constructed in 1858 and was one of the first places of worship in Stoney Creek.
The staff report for designation is scheduled for 2018.
Council approved a new development which will include a 12-storey building at 20 Artfrank Drive in Upper Stoney Creek. Artfrank Drive is one block south of the Lincoln Alexander Parkway between Upper Mount Albion and Winterberry Drive, directly behind the Silvercity movie theatre.
Planning Committee approved the development which will see 20 two-storey town homes and three multiple storey buildings containing a total of 371 dwelling units.
The three buildings are approved for 7-storey, 10-storey, and 12-storey.
A housekeeping approval of common elements in a new sub-division which is classified as a condominium.
Committee approved the draft plan of condominium.
The development of Stoney Creek’s Lake Ontario neighbourhoods continues with a proposal for two six-storey residential buildings and ten townhouses at 101 Shoreview Place.
The proposal is for a total of 458 units in the two residential units. The development is part of New Horizon’s Green Millen Shores development.
Committee approved the development.
Hamilton Habitat for Humanity asked the City Hall for approval to build five street townhouse dwelling units at 149.5 Sherman Avenue north in Ward 3.
The site, just south of Barton on the west side of Sherman across from St. Ann’s Church, is a former commercial parking lot.
Staff recommended approval noting this will develop a parking lot site and providing affordable housing.
After statements of support, Councillors voted to approve the development.
Councillors approved this Meadowlands neighbourhood application for this 88 residential unit housing development which will include 176 parking spots and 47 visitor parking spaces.