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NYCs Transit Works Issue Ten Point Plan, Should Hamilton's ATU Do Something Similar – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

July 25, 2017
New York City’s subway system is in crisis, with record breakdowns and delays, with the New York Governor declaring a state of emergency for the system.
The union representing workers who operate the system issued a 10 point plan for addressing the problems facing the system. It’s a smart move which generated much media coverage yesterday for the union, and shifted the narrative slightly from the present finger pointing between the State and City.
Many of the fixes suggested are as simple as implementing more preventative maintenance, others are move complex.
While the HSR’s problems are not comparable to the situation in NYC, many issues here relate to maintenance and breakdowns of buses.
Hamilton’s transit union, ATU 107, is presently campaigning to have the HSR operate the planned B-Line LRT. The campaign isn’t gaining the traction it could, as many transit users (this journalist included) do not trust the HSR and City Council to operate transit.
The ATU’s underlying message about ensuring good wages and benefits, reliable service, integration with buses, and good public accountability is lost in the fact that the present HSR isn’t able to manage the HSR as it exists now, let alone a LRT line.
Could launching a plan to fix the current HSR help breath life into the ATU’s LRT campaign? Or would highlighting the many shortcomings of HSR upper management further undermine the LRT campaign?
The reality is the HSR is in crisis, and with some Councillors now openly talking about the HSR’s multi-million dollar deficit, the time for a transit discussion has arrived in Hamilton.
Next year is the municipal election, will anyone lead on transit in 2018?


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Our Future Hamilton Office Taking Over Youth Engagement, Staff to Present Plan in September – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

July 14, 2017
The Our Future Hamilton strategic plan and community engagement staff tabled their annual update to Council this week.
In the report, they outlined activities from the past year.
Among the highlights, the “Chase the Future: 2041” engagement in elementary schools city-wide, launching a quarterly e-newsletter, launching a Community Champion program, and more.
The project plans to improve their project website in the coming year, conduct more community engagement, with a special focus on engaging youth.
Community Initiatives Manager John Ariyo is now responsible for the City’s youth engagement, and the planned relaunch of the Youth Advisory Committee.  (The Public Record outlines the dismal history of youth engagement at City Hall in this report)
Ward 6 Councillor Tom Jackson asked Ariyo what the status of the youth engagement strategy is.
Chris Herstek, Director of Recreation, says his department will present the new youth engagement strategy to Council in September. The City is presently consulting with youth to complete the report.
Councillor Matthew Green heaped praise upon one of the City’s frontline recreation staffers. who runs some of the City’s few youth programs.
“On the youth file, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge Jesse Williamson’s ongoing work, informally, in the community on the youth file”.
Williamson runs many of the City’s few youth focused programs including Urban Hoops, F.O.R.E golf, and programming in Wards 2, 3, & 4.
DISCLOSURE: Williamson and I worked together at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hamilton in the early 2000s.
Green continued, “I’d love to see that formalized in some way, and perhaps given some direction and so lead to just go ahead and be all systems go on that. He’s already doing great work”.
Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr added a loud “hear, hear”
Green says the City should consider having a dedicated youth engagement and programming staff member, suggesting Williamson’s be assigned to that role.
The Public Record will be following this file closely, and will provide updates as developments occur.
Full Video of this discussion on The Public Record’s YouTube page.

source: news-thepublicrecord

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


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Political Ads, Use of Journalistic Content, Fair Use and TPR's Creative Commons License – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

July 25, 2017
With the provincial election campaign in full swing, and City Hall engaged in electioneering for the October 2018 municipal vote, now is as good a time as any to explain fair use, political ads, and political use of content here on The Public Record.
The TL;DR version of this post is journalism relies heavily upon fair dealing in Canadian copyright law, and while many large media companies wish to see an exemption to fair dealing to block use of their content in political campaign ads, The Public Record believes creating further exemptions to fair dealing will ultimately undermine public discourse and harm journalism. We can’t ban political use of our content, are consistent in our fair dealing position, and will challenge any misinformation that misrepresents our content.
Some background: In 2014, four of Canada’s commercial broadcasters banded together and issued a statement saying they will not allow political parties to use their content in advertising.
CBC, Rogers, Shaw, and CTV declared “political advertisements without our express consent may compromise our journalistic independence and call into question our journalistic ethics, standards, and objectivity.”
They jointly agreed, in potential violation of the Competition Act, to not air any political ads using their content.
CBC followed this up in 2015 by filing a Copyright request to YouTube and Facebook demanding they take down a tasteless advertisement by the Conservatives entitled Justin Trudeau on ISIS. Michael Geist, Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa, provides excellent analysis of why CBC’s use of copyright was not legally sounds.
The debate continues to this day.
Fair dealing is essential to journalism, without it, most news outlets would be unable to inform the public. Any restriction which undermines fair dealing is a threat to the very foundations of journalism in Canada.
The Public Record’s position on political use of our content is that such use is legally allowed under copyright, and further could be used under our Creative Commons license.
The CC license use is not likely as the Share-Alike provision would require similar open licensing by the political entity using our work.
Our comfort or discomfort requiring the use of content is irrelevant.
If a candidate chooses to misuse our content to mislead the public, or grossly distort our work, we’ll respond with words and strongly counter information.
Yes, TPR is concerned our content my be misused, and that misuse of my content my create a false impression that we’re for or against a candidate.
We share similar concerns as any other media outlet, but will not respond by undermining fair use or open culture.
If you are a candidate or campaign, don’t email asking permission to use our work. Please exercise your legal fair use rights responsibly.


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Province Gives City of Hamilton $10-mil in Additional Funding for Early Years Programming & Child Care – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

July 16, 2017
Ontario’s Ministry of Education is increasing the City’s Early Years funding by $9,938,458 for 2017.
City staff are recommending the hiring of an additional full-time Early Years Strategy Specialist, with a cost of $110,775 attached to the position. $5,439,321 for expanded child care for children aged 0-4 years, $2,719,661 to increase subsides and access to licensed child care for children aged 0-6 years, $679,362 for children aged 0-12, $253,315 for wage increases for staff working in licensed child care, and $25,979 for data analysis services.
This brings the City total Child Care and Early Years budget to $69,354,172 for 2017, of which only $5,754,424 is funded from municipal taxes. The City will prioritize the expansion of non-profit child care spaces.


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Province Plans to Further Clampdown on Pay Day Loans, Gov. Cheque Cashers, and Rent-to-Owns – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

July 9, 2017
The Provincial government is nearing the implementation of further regulations to rein in the payday loan industry.
Proposed changes to regulations of the Payday Loans Act, and the Consumer Protection Act were posted to the provincial regulatory website last week.
The proposed changes are open for public comment until August 21, 2017.
Among the highlights:
The proposed regulations will require extended payment plans for borrows who take out three pay day loans during a 100 day period. If repayment play exceeds 62 days, then interest must comply with the 60% annual limit imposed by the Criminal Code.
Payday loans will be limited to a maximum of 40% of the borrowers net pay.
Rolling loans will be forbidden, with a minimum of six days required to pass from the repayment of a previous loan before a new loan can be taken.
Clearer signage will be required, including information on the cost of loans and how to access non-profit credit counseling. Hamilton’s municipal payday licensing already requires this information to be clearly posted.
The Province is proposing the cost of loan posters to display the cost of a $500 loan.
Credit Unions will be exempt from the Pay Day Loans Act and allowed to issue lower cost alternative loans to their member. “Consumer protection would be unaffected by this exemption as credit unions are required by law to operate on a co-operative basis for the primary purpose of benefiting the credit union’s members.”
The Province wants to stop cheque cashing operations from profiting from high fees on government cheques. Under the proposed rules, the most a casher can charge for government cheques will be $10 for those valued at $800 or more. Cheques under $800 can be charged a fee for $2 plus 1% of the face value.
The Province also provided its intent to tighten regulations on installment loans and “rent-to-own” lease agreements such those sold by Easyhome. The Province listed various regulations in the United States they are going to consider for future regulations.


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Should Hamilton Adopt Oakville's Air Pollution Bylaw Regiment? – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

July 31, 2017
Councillors sitting as Board of Health discussed the Town of Oakville’s Health Protection Air Quality By-Law during their July Board of Health meeting. (Meeting Video)
In the end, Councillors decided to take no action themselves, asking the province to implement new regulations for fine particulate matter.
There was a discussion of the challenge of directly emitted fine particulate matter measuring 2.5 microns or less. especially from industrial operations and building development across the City.
The Oakville By-Law requires “major” emitters of five types of air emissions to register and pay a $25,000 fee to the Town which is used by the City to monitor and review emissions.
The criteria for registration is:
Emitters must also complete a Emissions Summary Dispersion Model report.
The major emitter’s application is then processed, ultimately leading to a Council vote to either approve or deny the land use of the emitter’s operations. The Council meeting is widely advertised, delegations are invited, and then Council makes a decision.
Hamilton City staff note in their assessment of the By-Law that Oakville is the only municipality in Ontario with this type of By-Law, does not have must industry operating in its boundaries, and therefore the cost of implementation considers of a lower economic impact.
“Oakville is not an industrial town, and so the impact on Oakville of discouraging industrial businesses from locating there has presumably not been significant (specific data are not available). However, Hamilton has a strong industrial base and the economic impacts to the City of this by-law are anticipated to be significant.”
Councillor Sam Merulla moved a motion calling on the Province to act “to establish legally enforceable regulatory limits for PM2.5 and PM10 for inclusion in Regulation 419”, and for the City to enforce the bylaw prohibiting track-out of dust onto City streets and more street sweeping in the industrial areas of Hamilton.


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Should Hamilton License and Regulate Driving Schools? – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

July 22, 2017
Ward 5 City Councillor Chad Collins wants to regulate Hamilton’s driving schools.
Two weeks ago, he moved a motion – now ratified by Council – in response to what he says are safety concerns in Ward 5 due to the number of driving schools using residential streets near the Kenora Avenue driver testing centre.
Collins clarified that his motion does not including truck driving schools, which are required to stay on truck routes while training.
That staff report back to Committee with legislative options and alternatives related to the regulation of driving schools in Hamilton that seeks to address the practice areas utilized by driving schools and individual driving instructors and that the information contained in the report include but not be limited to legislation adopted by neighbouring municipalities who have adopted driving school rules and regulations.


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The Connolly (James Baptist) Development In Receivership – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

July 17, 2017
The fate of what remains of the James Street Baptist is in doubt as the numbered company which owns the Church is now in receivership.
Stanton Renaissance was marketing a 30-storey 269-unit condominium tower for the site at 98 James Street South in Hamilton’s Downtown core.
This is just the latest company owned by Louie Santaguida to enter into bankruptcy.
In spring, Stanton’s On the Go Mimico project entered into bankruptcy, leaving around 200 people without their hoped-for condos. (The buyers received their deposits back as Ontario law requires they be held in trust)
The receivership is the result of an application by Duca Financial Services Credit Union Ltd. (Duca) , the holder of the first mortgage in the amount of $5,000,000. The building was purchased from the Church in 2013 for $610,000.
The first mortgage was issued on July 8, 2015, to provide financing for the proposed condominium. When the mortgage was applied for, Stanton reported 114 presale agreements. The condo was planned to have 269 units, meaning 42% had been sold when the first mortgage was issued.
Duca’s filing says there are five mortgages on the property. The second mortgage is related to deposits for pre-sales of condo units, the third is secured against the bankrupt Mimico project, and both the fourth and fifth are held by Santaguida’s wife MaryLou.
Duca decided not to renew their mortgage. The term expired on September 8, 2016, after being unable to secure payment from Stanton,
In December, Duca filed an application to the courts to initiate Power of Sale processing.
UPDATE: The City of Hamilton says, “The $106,127.62 identified are the 2016 taxes levied, not the arrears. The 2016 taxes have been paid in full. The 2016 taxes were paid by the instalment due dates, so they were never in arrears for 2016.”
The Credit Union voluntarily restrained from proceeding with Power of Sale this spring, Duca says that Santaguida and his lawyer had been negotiating with potential investors to refinance or restructure the project.
On May 31, Sergiu Cosmin, Manager of Special Accounts for Duca, writes that he was informed by the lead representative of the potential investors that talks were “then at and end”.
On June 22, the courts ordered the receivership.
Prior to arriving in Hamilton, Santaguida was trying to develop in Brantford.
One of Santaguida’s companies was involved in a planned Brantford brownfield remediation development at the turn of the decade. The deal ended in 2011 when Brantford Council voted to end its relationship with Santaguida.
“Under no circumstances would I ever go into business with this company after all that has happened,” Mayor Chris Friel was quoted in The Expositor at the time. Friel stands by his statement to this day.
In June 2014, The Spectator ran a lengthy article about Santaguida’s history of bankruptcies.
Despite Santaguida’s history, and warnings from Brantford’s Mayor, Hamilton’s Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr embraced Santaguida with open arms.
Farr assisted Santaguida’s demolition permit application for the designated heritage church. When public concerns were raised by the Durand Neighbourhood Association, and other civic groups, City Hall converted the application into a “minor alteration” permit, allowing for the demolition of the Church without any public hearings.
The proposed condo was approved by Council in 2015, and for the past two years, Santaguida stated the building was 75% sold and on the verge of groundbreaking for construction. Nothing was happening on the site to indicate construction was about to begin.
In April, when Santaguida’s Mimico went bankrupt, raising serious questions about Stanton Renaissance, Farr maintained the Connolly will move forward. The City said at the time they spoke to Santaguida and the Hamilton project was securely moving forward. Farr said at the time he was reassured by the communications.
This afternoon, following the receivership, Farr claims to CBC that he hasn’t spoke to Stanton or Santaguida in “well over a year”.
Hamilton’s heritage committee meets on Thursday, and citizen members of the committee – who fought to see a proper process on this site in 2013 – will have the opportunity to ask City staff questions about the future of the remaining front portion of the church.
Court-Appointed Receiver Spergel posted notice to the site:
IN THE MATTER OF THE RECEIVERSHIP OF
2203284 Ontario Inc.
of the City of Hamilton, in the Province of Ontario
Take notice that:
1. msi Spergel Inc. was Court-Appointed as Receiver of the subject property located at 96 James Street South, Hamilton, on the 22nd day of June 2017 pursuant to an order issued by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
2. This Premises and all of the Property herein are now under the possession of the Receiver.
3. Entry or removal by unauthorized persons is prohibited.
4. If you require any further information, please contact Evan McCullagh of mis Spergel Inc. at 905 527 2227 or emccullagh@spergel.ca
Dated at the City of Hamilton, in the Province of Ontario, this 22nd day of June 2017.
Story Updates
July 17 – Updated with statement from City of Hamilton that property is not in tax arrears.


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Union Gas Wants to Expand to Sheffield, Seeks City Contribution – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

July 10, 2017
Union Gas presented to Council Monday asking for the City to support an extension of Union Gas’ infrastructure to expand service to Sheffield.
In order to access provincial Ministry of Infrastructure grants, Union Gas says it needs the City of Hamilton to “contribute the equivalent to the incremental tax increase on the proposed new natural gas infrastructure for a minimum period of ten years”.
Matthew Jackson, Union Gas’ Manager of Municipal Affairs, told Council the decision to expand to seek a provincial grant for this expansion is based upon Sheffield having sufficient density to support service, interest expressed from residents, and that the hamlet is only two kilometres from the nearest gas main.
Alvin Chan of the City’s Growth Management Division says the incentive will be amount to $5,000 per year over ten years in tax relief. The City will receive the taxes starting in year 11.
Ward 15 Councillor Judi Partridge gave the plan her full support, stating she is “delighted” for Sheffield to have this opportunity. She expects it will help businesses in the hamlet to grow, and save residents on energy costs.
Ward 11 Councillor Brenda Johnson says she hopes to see Union Gas expand to other rural settlement areas, saying people are being “crippled”
Council voted to endorse the project, grant the tax incentive, and write a letter to the Province to that effect.
City staff state Union Gas will need to complete studies for natural heritage, source water protection, and cultural heritage to gain municipal approval.
Union Gas expects, if all approvals and the provincial grant successful, to complete expansion in 2019.


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Council Begins Their Annual Budget Dance as 2018 City of Hamilton Budget Outlook Presented – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

August 14, 2017
City Councillors began the annual budget process today as General Manager of Corporate Services Mike Zegarac presented the 2018 preliminary City of Hamilton budget overview to Council.
The traditional budget process sees staff present a higher budget increase as the preliminary than Council will eventually approve. Councillors spending eight months scaling it back to what they will approve.
This scaling back process involves much theatrics, and being an election year, we can expect to see even more posturing than usual.
The starting tax increase figure for 2018, presented by staff today, is 4.8 percent or $30 for the average assessment in Hamilton – exclusive of area rating and reassessment. The 4.8 percent figure does not include water rates which is a separate bill to properties administered by Horizon Utilities.
Water rates are forecast to increase 4.5% in 2018, 0.8% for water operations, 3.7% for the capital enhancements and expansion of water treatment facilities. Councillors Jackson and Partridge both voted against this portion of the preliminary budget; saying water rate increases are too high. Jackson says he is concerned that the rate increase will be higher due to a wet summer decreasing municipal water usage and revenue.
Neither Jackson nor Partridge offered alternatives for financing need treatment facilities and water system capital work.
Council voted to instruct City departments to submit 2018 budgets with an increase of only 1.5%.
No decisions were made on where the Council will start cutting in 2018.
Council’s next budget meeting is October 20, 2017 when the 2018 Capital Budget will be presented.


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Hamilton City Council Debates LRT Unionization [Replay] – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

August 9, 2017
Hamilton City Council returns from three weeks of vacation today for a special meeting on the Light Rail Transit project.
Staff will update Council on the Ministry of Environment’s approval of the updated Environmental Project Report, then Council will debate two separate motions related to the unionization of the LRT system.
The first motion is moved by Ward 3 Councillor Matthew Green, calling on the province to make City Council and the HSR the operators of the system, which automatically means unionization of the LRT work force.
The second motion, by Ward 1 Councillor Aidan Johnson is for the Council to endorse, in principle, that the workforce.

created: August 9, 2017


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Hamilton City Council for August 18, 2017 [Live Blog Archive] – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

August 18, 2017
City Council meets to ratify their decisions of the past week, and of the August 9 special LRT meeting.
The Public Record will liveblog the meeting, you can watch live video by following the instructions in our guide to watching Council live here.


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Hamilton City Council General Issues Committee for August 14, 2017 – Video Replay – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

August 14, 2017
Hamilton City Council meets as a whole for their only August GIC meeting today. On the agenda: 2018 Budget Guidelines, Tax Incentive Grant for 27 Bold Street, Environment Remediation Grant for 1165-1167 Cannon Street East, Cooling Off period for former Councillors, Creating a fashion incubator at the former Eastmount School in Ward 7, update on the Hamilton Future Fund, Poverty Reduction spending strategy, and buying school properties from the public and Catholic English language school boards.
Full Video on Youtube


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Hamilton City Council GIC for August 14, 2017 [Liveblog Replay] – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

August 14, 2017
Hamilton City Council meets as a whole for their only August GIC meeting today. On the agenda: 2018 Budget Guidelines, Tax Incentive Grant for 27 Bold Street, Environment Remediation Grant for 1165-1167 Cannon Street East, Cooling Off period for former Councillors, Creating a fashion incubator at the former Eastmount School in Ward 7, update on the Hamilton Future Fund, Poverty Reduction spending strategy, and buying school properties from the public and Catholic English language school boards.
Replay of liveblog:


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Hamilton City Council Special Meeting on Light Rail Transit, August 9, 2017 [VIDEO REPLAY] – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

August 9, 2017
Council held a special meeting to debate their position on LRT operations. In a 9-4 vote, Council voted to direct City staff to ” advise Metrolinx that the forthcoming operating and maintenance agreement between the City of Hamilton and Metrolinx for LRT should include the Hamilton Street Railway as the party responsible to operate and maintain the new LRT line, and any other future transit expansion, in the City of Hamilton”.
The vote was 9-4 with Councillors Farr, Green (mover), Merulla, Jackson, Skelly, Whitehead, Pearson, Vanderbeek, Partridge in favour. Opposed were Johnson, Ferguson, Pasuta, and Mayor Eisenberger.
Full video on The Public Record’s YouTube page, and you can read the liveblog we posted during the meeting.
As for what the vote means to the LRT project both timelines and risks; it is not yet clear. Andrew Hope, the project lead for Metrolinx, says he needs to go back to consult with the Province as to how to proceed, and that at the least, this will delay the project a few weeks.


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Hamilton Design Review Panel Workshop on Hamilton's New Transit Oriented Corridors Zoning – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

August 10, 2017
Hamilton’s Design Review Panel met on August 10, 2017 for a workshop from senior City planning staff on the City’s new Transit Oriented Corridor Zoning.
The video and discussion is a good primer for those looking for an introduction into the concepts of the zoning and how it will interact with urban design in Hamilton.
Full Video on The Public Record’s YouTube page.


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Hamiltonians March in Response to Charlottesville [Photos] – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

August 15, 2017
Hamiltonians marched Monday evening to denounce white supremacy in the aftermath of this past weekend’s events in  Charlottesville, Virginia which saw a gathering of white supremacists and neo-Nazis that saw the death of a 32-year-old Heather Heyer when a neo-Nazi drove a car into a crowd of counter-protesters.
Over 150 people gathered at Hamilton’s main intersection of King and James, and marched along Hamilton’s downtown streets to Durand Park. The Public Record was there, and here are our photos:


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Hey Joe, Remembering Joseph Rouleau – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

August 30, 2017
Editors note: this was originally published on my personal blog. It is republished on The Public Record – Joe Rouleau was actively engaged at City Hall and regularly attended Council meetings. His engagement at City Hall, and beyond, will be sadly missed.
Opening the bus doors and shouting a loud “Hey Joe!”, that’s how Joe Rouleau would greet me as I walked by his Delaware bus at Main and MacNab.
His unique accent, and friendly manner distinctive as anyone could be.
Last night, Joseph Rouleau’s life was cut short.
His vehicle was struck on Upper James shortly before midnight. He had just ended his shift, and was driving home to his wife and their one year old son Joseph.
The tragic news spread today among HSR operators, a sense of shock was evident. You could see it in the entire organization.
Joe was known by everyone.
He was very active in the Amalgamated Transit Union 107’s political action committee, attended company events, marched in the Labour Day parade, and regularly engaged in conversations Downtown between his split shifts.
Joe was a regular at City Hall, sitting in the gallery during meetings. Honestly, it’s hard to think of a week that went by that I didn’t see him.
Our last conversation, only a few weeks ago, was about his desire to get more involved in Hamilton. He had an thoughtful opinion on most things, and could talk my ear off. He was regularly questioning me on documents. He seemingly read every Council agenda cover-to-cover, I knew one day, he would run for City Council, it was clear he had the passion for it, and that he wanted to serve the public more.
This morning, I saw HSR Director Debbie Dalle Vedove at City Hall shortly after she learned that Joe had died. She was clearly shaken by the news. Dalle Vedove and I were meeting at 9:30am, she did tell me she may have to step out, that the collision the night before had taken the life of a HSR operator. She knew the operator.
The HSR is a large organization, there are over 700 employees, this is how much bigger than life Joe was, everyone knew him.
Later in the day, at the MacNab Terminal, a HSR operator says: “One moment you’re waving goodbye to your buds at work, and then the next your vehicle is struck a block away. Life is so fragile, so short”.
I listen, then he shows me the photo. I’m stunned, shocked. I’ll never hear that distinctive greeting again, never win the argument of trying to get him to call me Joey.
It’s a bigger loss, we’ll never see Joe get more involved in our community, his contributions had only begun.
Tonight, ATU 107 President Eric Tuck posted to Facebook:
Today I was devastated at the news of Brother Joe Rouleau’s passing in a horrific automobile accident on his way home from work. Brother Rouleau is survived by his wife Megan and 1 year old son Joseph. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them. Joe was such a key member of our ATU family and such a special friend to so many of us his passing leaves a great empty void in our hearts. Now we must be there to support his wife Megan and son in whatever way we can. May you Rest in peace my brother your strength and conviction lives on in Solidarity.
He was only 30. Even that, wow, 30 and so well known, so engaged, so many achievements. Only 30.
Funeral arrangements for Joe have been announced with visitation on Monday, September 4, and funeral the next day. Details here.
ATU 107 has created a memorial fund to support Joe’s family, you can contribute on GoFundMe here: https://www.gofundme.com/4cxxe3s


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With Major Changes to Management and a New Slogan, HSR Wants to Be Your First Choice – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

August 24, 2017
“HSR, Your First Choice” is the new slogan of Hamilton’s beleaguered public transit agency, the Hamilton Street Railway.
The new slogan was announced to HSR employees this week in an internal publication obtained by The Public Record yesterday, and released by the City of Hamilton today.
Along with the new slogan, HSR Director Debbie Dalle Vedove announced three strategic focuses for the HSR: customer service, good repair and service, and collective ownership.
Also changing is HSR’s upper management structure, and the HSR logo is redesigned.
The number of upper managers remains the same, with the manager of the eliminated Manager of Accessible Transit Services named to a new Manager of Special Projects position.
Noteworthy in the changes is the moving of HSR social media from Transit Strategy to Customer Service, and the moving of Information Technology to Customer Service.
This reflects a great deal of confidence in the new Acting Manager of Customer Service and Innovation, a renaming of the position from its previous title of Customer Service and Planning.
Transit Planning is moved to Strategy, which is renamed to Manager of Transit Planning and Infrastructure. HSR’s Manager of Maintenance is untouched, while the Manager of Transit Support Services sees some of their responsibilities move to Planning, including the long overdue HSR bus advertising contract tender.
The Acting Manager of Customer Service and Innovation is Dennis Guy who has been with the City 15 years in various project management and communications roles. He joined the HSR six months ago. More recently, he was involved with the shelved HSR+ rebranding, the City’s Our Future Hamilton project, and prior to this launched the City’s first Twitter account @hamiltonbbman. He’s won numerous communications awards.
Dennis has held progressive roles in the City over the past four years, for both Public Works and corporately for the City as a whole. He has skills in strategic planning, continuous improvement, change management, and customer service. I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with him for about the past six months, and I am thrilled that he has accepted this role acting as the new Manager of Customer Experience and Innovation.
The new Manager, Customer Experience and Innovation will take a lead role as we shift to a much more customer-centric model. Ultimately, the Manager will need to build relationships with key players in the transit community, develop and implement a comprehensive customer service strategy, and communicate with our customers and find out what they want and need.
– HSR Director Debbie Vedove Dalle in an email response to The Public Record
The Acting Manager of Transit Planning and Infrastructure is Jason Vander Heide. Vander Heide was a transit operator for approximately 15 years before being promoted during then-HSR Director David Dixon’s efforts to fix HSR’s middle management.
He was the Acting Operations Manager this spring, during which time he successfully kept the system operating while many drivers refused overtime in protest of the Director’s decision to fire the previous Operations Manager.
Prior to this unexpected acting role, he successfully oversaw the HSR’s Pan Am Games service deployment, and special projects assigned by Dixon.
As a operator, Vander Heide drove most routes in the City, and excelled at customer service. He was one of few that waited for GO Transit connections on the Delaware late at night.
Vander Heide’s position will oversee a rumoured full route review to be completed in the coming year. He’s the right person for the difficult job of fixing HSR’s years overdue projects, and to lead a full review of HSR operations.
The only reason Vander Heide could not succeed in the role is if Council fails to properly resource his section, or political interference disrupts the review of HSR’s scheduling, routes, and operations.
His experience driving routes that service McMaster will be particularly useful in correcting serious service deficiencies and inefficiencies in HSR’s heaviest ridership corridor.
The HSR is expecting a $2.5-million budget shortfall in 2017, declining ridership, calls from Council for a “grilling” of the agency, and has been struggling to meet service requirements in the past few weeks as 25-plus years of Council and bureaucratic mismanagement have reached a crisis point.
Last Friday, the HSR failed to put at least 15 buses on the road. Riders looking to get the Ticats game dealt with bus not showing up, and other bus routes saw hour long service gaps as HSR managers failed to communicate and address the situation.
Today alone, the @HSR Twitter account failed to notify passengers of missing buses, and mistakenly stated bus service on the 5C to Meadowlands operates on a 15-minute frequency (it’s 30 minutes at peak), and didn’t inform passengers of 30 minute and 60 minute service gaps during the afternoon rush hour.
Approaching the one year mark of her tenure as HSR Director, Dalle Vedove faces the challenge of addressing 25 years of mismanagement and neglect, while trying to revitalize the HSR without strong Council support for investments, and responding to a ridership (myself included) increasingly frustrated with missing buses who are abandoning the HSR if they have any other choice of transportation.
Further challenges lay ahead for the HSR.
Sobi is drawing more riders from the HSR, GO Transit is becoming more attractive for travel to leisure activities in Mississauga and Toronto. GO to Square One is 45 minutes, whereas the HSR to either Cineplex on the West or East Mountain is 35 minutes from Downtown.
The new slogan is at best aspirational.
The decision to promote two acting managers with proven records of success, putting a former transit operator in a key planning position, shows Dalle Vedove  setting the board to implement her vision for the future of the HSR.
Clearly, her goal in setting a strong HSR slogan is to point to the future, even in the face of ridicule of a slogan so far from the current reality of the HSR.
Can the HSR change to First from Last Choice? It will be an interesting ride as we wait to find out.
While comments are always welcome below, much conversation occurs on Facebook. Here’s the thread on The Public Record’s page and the thread on Joey Coleman’s page.


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Replay – LiveBlog: Ontario Municipal Board Pre-hearing Ward Boundary Review – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

August 3, 2017
The Ontario Municipal Board is hearing an appeal registered by two citizens against Council’s gerrymandering of Ward Boundaries. This is a pre-hearing, which serves to identify parties, issues, and set dates for the full hearing.
Some key terms and people in this hearing.
OMB panel
The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) members deciding this case are Dr. Bruce Krushelnicki and Paula Boutis. Krushelnicki is the Executive Chairman of the Environmental and Land Tribunals of Ontario, and is therefore the highest ranking member of the OMB.
City of Hamilton Legal Counsel
City Council retained outside legal counsel for the hearing as the Council voted to not accept the recommendations of professional experts Watson & Associates, instead creating their own boundaries as a Council.
The outside Counsel for the Council are Steven Ferri, partner at Loopstra Nixon LLP, and Cindy Yi, as associate at the firm.
Applicants
Two private citizens have appealed the Council’s new self-created ward boundaries.
Mark Richardson is being represented in the hearing by Hamilton lawyer Craig Burley, who is working on the case pro-bono.
Robert Dobrucki is self-representing, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, and a lawyer by trade, he is appealing as a private citizen. (Dobrucki was a guest on The Public Record Radio Show in October 2016 on the topic of ward boundaries)

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The Public Record's Week in Photos Review for August 7 to 13, 2017 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

August 16, 2017
Photos convey much meaning, and this photo has plenty of meanings to be unpacked. Aidan Johnson is voting on the losing side of a contentious Council vote on LRT, Council is demanding the Province give them control of the maintenance and operation of the LRT — a vote which the consequences of are unknown at this time.
You can see Ward 3 Councillor Matthew Green – who moved and championed the motion Johnson is voting against – turned away from Johnson with a stern look on his face. This conveys the gulf between them on the issue.
Behind, in the staff section, you can varying reactions as staff try to retain neutral appearances. The most interesting among them is City LRT manager Trevor Horzelenberg who will be charged with changing LRT plans in response to the Council vote.
This week’s photo gallery starts with the return of Ward 14 Councillor Rob Pasuta from a eight-month medical leave, many photos from Wednesday’s special LRT meeting, and wrap up the week with Art Crawl.


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Video: August 18 City Council Debate on Waterfront Trust Transparency Motion – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

August 28, 2017
Here’s the full video of Hamilton City Council debating a motion for transparency from the Hamilton Waterfront Trust moved by Councillor Donna Skelly.
Ward 2 Councillor, and Waterfront Trust Board Member, Jason Farr has described the motion as a “gotcha” act by Skelly, and warned on Cable 14 last week that he’s “ready” to respond if Skelly continues to move similar motions on spending on things such as the Trust and consultants.
YouTube Link


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With Council Looking to Change Art Gallery of Hamilton Funding, Can the Gallery Fix It's Deficit Problem? – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

August 16, 2017
The Art Gallery of Hamilton is trying to reach financial sustainability and is hoping to increase its government annual funding.
City Council Grants Sub-Committee met on Monday to hear from City staff on the gallery’s operations, fiscal state, and challenges.
The Gallery receives $1-million per year in funding from the City of Hamilton.
The AGH holds one of the largest collections of art in Canada, with the collection valued at over $800-million. The collection includes well known artists such as William Blair Bruce, Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven, Lawren Harris, and The Chedoke Collection.
In 2016, the Art Gallery ran a deficit of $829,553. Since 2014, the Gallery has averaged annual deficits of $500,000.
The Gallery is looking to reduce its expenses by $350,000 in 2017 by eliminating its Chief Financial Officer position, closing to the public on Tuesdays, decreasing advertising, increasing fundraising, cutting at the Design Annex on James Street North, and utility savings from capital improvements funded by a grant. The AGH’s utilities cost is approximately $1,100 per day.
The Design Annex on James Street North has been a cost centre for the Art Gallery, it never broke even and the AGH recently closed it except for special events.
The AGH is looking for more government funding, especially from the Provincial and Federal governments. The Gallery states government base funding comes solely from the City of Hamilton and accounts for 17% of its budget. They state that the average for large galleries is that 33% to 55% of their budget comes from government funding.
In their presentation slides, the AGH states the “significant shortfall in government base funding results in a current average deficit of approximately $500,000”
The AGH is looking to increase its funding from high levels of government.
Councillor Tom Jackson expressed concerns about how the Art Gallery of Hamilton is guaranteed $1-million in municipal funds and is also able to apply for grants funding in the City’s regular funding processes.
Clr. Brenda Johnson questioned the Gallery’s special arrangements for municipal funding, and that the Gallery needs to be moved to the same funding evaluations for arts funding.
Jackson says that he’ll bring forth a motion at a future meeting to remove the guaranteed $1-million per year in funding for the Gallery from the City, and have them evaluated as part of the arts funding process. This could result in more or less funding for the Gallery.


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A Quick Note on Why I'm Didn't Cover the Cst. Pfeifer Police Services Act Hearing – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

September 16, 2017
The Public Record’s mission is to provide high-quality coverage to enable all of us to fulfill our responsibilities of citizenship by ensuring accountable and transparent civic governance. As part that mandate, I’ve focused The Public Record on ensuring a permanent video record of nearly every meeting at City Hall – especially meeting that no other journalist or outlet covers.
There are two primary reasons I wasn’t there: City Hall meetings needed to be covered and every other media outlet was present at the Police Services Act hearing involving Councillor Matthew Green’s complaint. I’ve generally maintained in my journalistic practice that I either cover quasi-judicial proceedings from start-to-finish in their entirety to ensure my coverage accurately reflects and captures the nuances of the matter. I couldn’t do this without missing every meeting at City Hall this week – creating a large gap in our civic knowledge.
I know I have to make The Public Record sustainable, because we need more local insightful journalism. I need to be able to do more, focus more on my journalism, and hire Hamiltonians to cover more news. Even with a two person operation, I could’ve covered this hearing while ensuing The Public Record was at City Hall.
The reason I write this note, and post it publicly, is because I want to share with you the weighting I did. I share some with some of you a frustration that there wasn’t much analysis of the matter, the story focused on what was said and by whom, and I want to know more myself.
Those who emailed me prefaced with comments of understanding I’m just one person, I thank you for that.

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Council Agrees to Minutes of Settlement with Mark Richardson on Ward Boundaries OMB – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

September 28, 2017
City Council voted during their Wednesday Council meeting to approve “minutes of settlement” with one of the party’s appealing against Council’s gerrymandering of ward boundaries.
The settlement is not yet public, pending “final execution”.
The City Council and Mark Richardson have reached some form of an agreement on some or all the issues; the settlement does not involve the other appellant Robert Dobrucki.
Mark Richardson, and his legal counsel Craig Burley, attended the full Council meeting tonight, and were expecting to address the media. However, they and the City decided to await “final execution” of the settlement.
Burley briefly chatted after the meeting in regards to what “minutes of settlement” means without getting into the details of this settlement.
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It is expected the finalization will occur in the coming days, and the minutes of settlement will be made public then.

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Council Proposes New Ward Boundaries in OMB Settlement Offer – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

September 29, 2017
City Council approved new ward boundaries in a series of closed door meetings during the past two months after citizens launched an appeal of Council’s gerrymandered wards.
The new boundary proposal is the result of negotiations between lawyers representing appellant Mark Richardson and City Council.
The settlement does not involve the other appellant Robert Dobrucki, who is seeking more balanced wards and who planned to propose a series of detailed options to the board.
The settlement must be approved by the OMB hearing panel.
The new proposal is a modification of existing boundaries, maintaining 15 wards similar to the existing boundaries.
The new proposal will continued to give more presentation to suburban and rural areas, with Wards 6 and 8 each having twice the combined population of Wards 14 and 15 in 2018, and Ward 11 becoming the most populous ward by 2026 went it is estimated it will have 54,155 residents, whereas Ward 14 is expected to have 23,350 residents in 2026.
The OMB will consider the settlement,  on October 19 at Stoney Creek Municipal Centre (Hwy 8 and Jones Road) starting at 9:30 a.m.

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Councillors Approve 10 Townhouses on Former Industrial Site at 53 Gibson Avenue – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

September 4, 2017
Ward 3 Councillor Matthew Green and Council’s Planning Committee voted to approve a development of 10 townhouse units with three storey height at 43 to 61 Gibson Avenue in Ward 3, between Cannon Street and Wilson Street. (Developers website)
Staff recommends of the project, which meets urban in-fill density requirements with 62 units per hectare.
Green moved, and committee approved, a motion to get staff to report on the status of abutting laneway that appears to now be privately owned – to determine if the private owner legally came into possession of the laneway, which appears to have been public at one time.
The site is presently vacant, having previously been used for an industrial manufacturing use. Staff are asking for a holding provision requiring the developer to gain Ministry of Environment approval on the Record of Site Condition before allowing the construction of the six-townhouse block.
A few neighbours across the street submitted letters of opposition. Opposition is being expressed on density – ironically, the existing density of the homes across the street is 63 units per hectare -, and the removal of on street parking spaces as each unit will have a driveway. One person wrote “I also want to know if they are building geared to income housing at that address or are they houses that will be built for people who have incomes and are wanting to buy houses?”
The letters expressed concerns about the development increasing property taxes.
A few of the objectors attending the Council Planning Committee meeting today. Green professionally explained why he supported the development, and avoided the pandering common to Councillors during meetings.
No date was set for the staff report on the laneway. The Planning Committee

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Developer Seeks Two Four-Storey Buildings with 90 Units at 3100 – 3140 Regional Road 56 in Binbrook – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

September 5, 2017
Council’s Planning Committee will decide Tuesday on an application from Losani Homes to build two four-storey buildings in Binbrook at 3100 – 3140 Regional Road 56 in Binbrook.
City staff are recommending approval, Ward 11 City Councillor Brenda Johnson is publicly opposed to the development, stating she opposes any height greater than three storeys in Binbrook.
The existing Official Plan for Binbrook limits height to three storeys.
“I have heard from my constituents who have expressed opposition in the past and even some Warplane pilots who use the Village as a landmark as they have no electronics to aid their flight and more than 3 storey is risky for air safety”, Johnson wrote in an email to planning staff.
“I will not support anything over 3 storeys”, she closed.
The two proposed buildings will house a combined total of 90 units with 1650 square feet of ground floor commercial.
The land is presently three separate single home properties.
The City’s Transportation Demand Management section states they want the developer to include 40 long-term bicycle storage spaces, and 20 short-term bicycle spots.
Staff are requesting Council impose a holding provision on the development until the upgrade of the Binbrook sanitary sewer pump station is complete.

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Flamborough Chamber of Commerce Holds Town Hall on Minimum Wage, Employment Standards with MP Ted McMeekin, Candidate Judi Partridge [Full Video Replay] – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

September 5, 2017
Flamborough’s business community had plenty of questions, and frustrations, about the Ontario Liberal government’s changes to the Employment Standards Act.
Many of the businesses in attendance say the changes are “too much, too fast”. Weeks’ Home Hardware says their decision to operate a new location on Queenston Road at Nash Road in East Hamilton was based upon a business plan using the present minimum wage, and they’ll be losing money at the location with the increase to minimum wage.
Judi Partridge, who is presently the Ward 16 (Waterdown) City Councillor, is the candidate for the Ontario Liberals in the 2018 provincial election in the new riding of Flamborough-Glanbrook. She spoke strongly in support of the changes.
The Town Hall was August 29, 2017.
Full Video on YouTube.


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Hamilton City Council for September 13, 2017 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

September 13, 2017
Hamilton City Council held their Council ratification meeting on September 13, 2017. Among the decisions, Council voted to not proceed with studying a 2030 Commonwealth Games bid.
Full Video Replay

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Hamilton City Council General Issues Committee for September 6, 2017 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

September 6, 2017
Full Video of Council’s General Issues Committee meeting for September 6, 2017
YouTube Link

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Hamiltonians Remember Dave Hanley and Share Their Memories [Audio Clips] – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

September 25, 2017
Dave Hanley died last week, it’s still hard to believe because he was such a key connector in the Hamilton I know.
Saturday night, Hamiltonians gathered at Sam Lawrence Park to remember and share memories of Dave Hanley. Hanley died last Wednesday. (Funeral details here)
His, and his wife’s, PopUp Hamilton event was scheduled for the park Saturday.
Hamiltonians shared their memories of Dave Hanley:
(All memories as one video on Youtube)

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Journalistic Word Choice, Committee of Adjustment, and Tall Buildings as Minor Variances – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

September 18, 2017
Hamilton’s broken planning approval process is now seeing Hamilton’s Committee of Adjustment approve new tall buildings as “minor variances”, skipping public Planning Committee hearings, public release of staff report comments, and clearly breaking the intent of minor variances in the Planning Act.
It was never intended that “minor variances” would be used to approval major tall building developments.
When I first deliberated the use of the word “major” in the context of Committee of Adjustment, it was related to variances for small units in true affordable housing – the Indwell development on Melvin Avenue at Parkdale – which sought 24 square metre units in place of the required minimum 65 square metres.
In this instance, my initial thought was that a variance of 60% was potentially major. However, the variance would recognize the existing room sizes under the previous lodging zoning.
Since that time, things have changed. We now have actual major changes being pushed as “minor variances”. Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr is using the Committee of Adjustment to bypass proper planning process and public consultations to approve tall buildings as “minor variances”, more on that later in the post.
First, the purpose of Committee of Adjustment and the definition – or lack of a clarity – of what is a minor variance.
Committee of Adjustment is a quasi-judicial body which is empowered to grant exceptions (“variances”) to municipal zoning regulations under Section 45 of the Planning Act.
The intent of having Committee of Adjustment is to allow municipalities to pass clear zoning bylaws, and for consideration of individual circumstances where relief is needed.
The Planning Act sets a four part test:
What is minor you ask? Whatever the Committee deems it to be.
Some municipalities have clear policies stating that “minor variances” are not to be used to bypass full planning processes.
Mississauga states “The minor variance application process is a method to seek relief through a Committee of Adjustment when hardship or circumstances do not allow you to meet the standards listed in the by-law”.
In coverage of criminal cases, journalists in non-opinion coverage do not use the words “guilty” or “not guilty” to describe a case. Even in opinion columns, the use of “guilty” or “not guilty” is frowned upon and rare.
This is seen as prejudicial to the process.
The stakes in a minor variance applications are much lower, a person’s liberty is not at stake. For applicants, the stakes are higher – many variances are sought by individuals seeks to build their dream be it a garden, patio, or even their house. To each applicant, their file is important.
Would calling an application major in my journalism prejudice the proceedings?  Would it result in more community reaction to an application to call it major – such as in the Indwell case cited near the beginning of this post. Many nearby residents were initially opposed on the grounds it was major, until it was clarified the variance was solely to recognize an existing condition.
The Committee of Adjustment is not a jury, in that they are not selected from a random pool of applicants. Individuals apply to the committee, and in the case of Hamilton, generally have a real estate or planning background.
The Committee members are not easily, if at all, influenced by media.
There is no overriding reason for avoiding the term major in the context of describing applications, if major is reflective of the applications.
I volunteer with my neighbourhood association, the Beasley Neighbourhood Association, as our Committee of Adjustment coordinator. It was a great fit, I’m at City Hall anyway, and it was extremely rare for anything newsworthy to happen at Committee of Adjustment.
That changed last fall when Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr asked Committee of Adjustment rubber stamp his decision to allow a 33-storey 106 metre tall building where zoning only permitted 22 metres. The “minor” variance was a 500% change to the permitted height.
No public release of any tall building studies or staff comments, no public meeting notice board, little transparency.
It was a “one-time” event, Farr said at the time.
A few weeks ago, Farr asked the Committee to approve a 18-storey “student rental housing” building at 64 Main Street East as a “minor variance”. The Committee approved this as another “one-time” exception. (The developer is selling the units as investment condos.)
This week, the Committee will consider the first set of variances for a 15-storey tall building at 210 Main Street East which does not need a variance for height, but was described as being “like Stalingrad” by the Chair of the Design Review Panel.
The Design Review Panel expressed reservations about most aspects of the project. The property owner responded by declaring that he shouldn’t be subject to design review, and that the panel was interfering with his right to earn profit.
Unlike Planning Committee, the Committee of Adjustment does not consider the comments of the Design Review Panel.
Farr is supporting the development as “affordable housing” with proposed rents 20% above the current market rate.
Neighbours are requesting a copy of all the public documents, and 30 days to review them. The minor variance hearing is Thursday at 3:00pm.
Tall building proposals in other wards continue to follow the Planning Committee process.
It’s not just Tall Buildings in Ward 2 that are taking advantage of Farr’s support of “minor variances” instead of proper Planning Committee review.
Greenwin sought to eliminate all three bedroom units in the residential apartment buildings at 181 John Street North and 192 Hughson Street North as a minor variance.
In the face of overwhelming community mobilization, Committee of Adjustment rejected the “minor variance”, declaring the request was a Zoning Amendment and belonged at Planning Committee. Greenwin is appealing to the Ontario Municipal Board.
The Public Record has covered the Committee of Adjustment for years because of the power it welds; the definition of “minor” is whatever the Committee decides it to be.
This site uses plain language, and will use the term major to describe “minor variance” applications which seek to gain major changes to zoning and community planning.
City planning is complex and neighbourhoods function best when holistic consideration is giving to new developments and changes to existing structures. The opposite is true when major decisions are considered in isolation.
Tall buildings in Hamilton’s downtown are needed and done properly will bring vibrancy to our city; we’ll lose those benefits if we fail to ensure proper process for our city’s future.

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REPLAY – LiveBlog: Ontario Municipal Board Second Pre-hearing Hamilton Ward Boundaries – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

September 18, 2017
The Ontario Municipal Board is holding its final pre-hearing as they prepare to decide on City Council’s gerrymandering of boundaries in the face of expert reports stating the boundaries fail to meet the standards of democratic balance in representation.
Today’s pre-hearing will finalize the “issues list” and witnesses that each party will be able to call to testify during the hearing.
I’ll be liveblogging from the hearing starting at 10am.
(You can read the liveblog from the August pre-hearing here)
Some key terms and people in this hearing.
OMB panel
The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) members deciding this case are Dr. Bruce Krushelnicki and Paula Boutis. Krushelnicki is the Executive Chairman of the Environmental and Land Tribunals of Ontario, and is therefore the highest ranking member of the OMB.
City of Hamilton Legal Counsel
City Council retained outside legal counsel for the hearing as the Council voted to not accept the recommendations of professional experts Watson & Associates, instead creating their own boundaries as a Council.
The outside Counsel for the Council are Steven Ferri, partner at Loopstra Nixon LLP, and Cindy Yi, as associate at the firm.
Applicants
Two private citizens have appealed the Council’s new self-created ward boundaries.
Mark Richardson is being represented in the hearing by Hamilton lawyer Craig Burley, who is working on the case pro-bono.
Robert Dobrucki is self-representing, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, and a lawyer by trade, he is appealing as a private citizen. (Dobrucki was a guest on The Public Record Radio Show in October 2016 on the topic of ward boundaries)


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More on Waterfront Trust $95,000 Contract to Execute Tall Ships for City's Culture and Tourism Department – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

September 11, 2017
City staff quickly responded to The Public Record’s story this morning on the inclusion of a $95,000 procurement to the Hamilton Waterfront Trust in the 2017 Second Quarter Non-Compliance with the Procurement Policy Report.
They provided the documentation and how this occurred.
The short is the City’s Tourism and Culture division hired the Hamilton Waterfront Trust to support and execute the Canada Day weekend Tall Ships Regatta as a sole-source project.
An unexpected leave by a senior staff member at the City resulted in the sole-source paperwork not getting completed in time to process a purchase order (cheque) to the HWT. Thus, the payment was processed under a separate procurement policy (known at Policy 19) and thus came to be included in the non-compliance report.
The contract to the Hamilton Waterfront Trust was done following City policies and procedures, and had it not been for the unexpected circumstances, the payment would not have been listed in the non-compliance report.
Of course, the whole reason this specific non-compliant item draws attention is that the Hamilton Waterfront Trust is refusing to make public its finances, and Waterfront Trust Board Member Ward 2 City Councillor Jason Farr is battling with local media by refusing to even release the minutes of Waterfront Trust board meetings.

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NIMBYism: Keep A Vacant Lot Across The Street, Cause "Free" Parking, and Cut My Property Taxes to Go Down – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

September 3, 2017
It’s easy to mock NIMBYism for its stupidity, but how much of that stupidity is rooted in the fact that our education system fails to explain how government actually works, especially at the municipal level.
Every two weeks, I read the Hamilton Planning Committee front to back, including all the letters from neighbours about proposed developments.
Some of the letters are insightful, well reasoned, and heartening to read. Sadly, those are the minority.
The next group of letters are mildly NIMBY, basically the kind that say don’t let someone else build the same type of housing I have, near me. (My favourite are the “anti-sprawl” from people who just bought their houses at the edge of urban sprawl)
Then there are the ugly, which are the I don’t want poor people, renters, or other “undesirables”.
This blog post is based upon a couple of letters in the middle group.
The development is on a vacant lot, which used to be industrial manufacturing, in the middle of an established urban residential area. The proposal is very similar to the opposite side of the street and is, by one unit per hectare, technically less dense than the average of the neighbourhood.
The common concerns in the letter is the new homes on this vacant lot will have driveways, thereby eliminating “free” on-street parking spots in front of the property.  The letters say they want less density citing – among many things – the loss of parking.
In these same letters, they express concern about their high property taxes.
For some reason, which is in part of failure of journalism to explain our world in favour of “he said, he said” stories, the letter writers do not connect the fact the vacant lot is not generating much in the way of property taxes, and the ten new homes proposed will generate at least $20,000 per year more in taxes.
We need in-fill development. It’s the only effective means of generating more revenue for services and managing tax increases on existing properties.
This is the role of journalism, we as journalists must help people to understand the economics of municipal government better.
(While on a much larger scale, Ryan McGreal’s 2014 post about the property tax benefits of intensification in the Downtown is a great read of examples of how this works.)

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Operation HAmazon? Let's Launch Operation Hamilton and Make City Hall Work to Create 50,000 New Local Sm Biz Jobs – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

September 22, 2017
The eighth floor of Hamilton City Hall is now HAmazon with over a dozen high ranking City staff assigned to the City’s top priority – bidding on the competition to be the local municipality and provincial/state jurisdiction most willing to give Amazon handouts for what they saw will be a new $5-billion dollar “headquarters” campus.
Amazon says its plans to grow over 20 years to 50,000 employees at the campus.
Two weeks ago, Amazon posted the competition criteria to their website. To ensure governments get caught up in jobs-hysteria and don’t practice much due diligence, Amazon expects corporate welfare offers by October 19, 2017.
The media launched a flurry of stories, and free marketing for Amazon – a company which likely already has a short-list of candidates, and is using this “competition” to extract concessions from them.
Politically, for mayors such as Hamilton’s Fred Eisenberger, when the local media calls up asking if Hamilton’s prepared to give Amazon handouts, the answer is Yes!
It’s not corporate welfare, it’s a “courtship” or “wooing” as Hamilton’s two written word media outlets framed it.
We’re not “courting” Amazon, we’re being used.
For Hamilton, the Amazon bid is an exercise in expensive political showmanship, the Mayor has senior staff do busywork, hire a few consultants, and postures about “fighting” for Hamilton.
Meanwhile, the day to day glamourless work of actually governing the City goes undone in favour of Operation HAmazon.
Could Hamilton attract 50,000 jobs over the next 20 years by making it easier to do business in Hamilton? Could our City attract 50,000 new IT professionals and jobs by 2037 by reversing our brain drain to Waterloo and Toronto?
Small businesses and start-ups generate local wealth and spend it in our community. They are not constantly looking for corporate welfare – they are looking for great places to do business.
Imagine if the City took all the staff and money they are placing into the HAmazon project and focused them on making Hamilton attractive to start-ups, and ending our brain drain?
There is frustration among Hamilton’s small business community about the City’s ability to drop everything to buy and roll-out a red carpet for Amazon.
Numerous restaurant owners have shared with me stories of bureaucratic bumbling and red-tape that nearly drop them to bankruptcy as the City takes months to process applications, schedule inspections and issue permits.
The stories are many and share many similarities.
None of these owners would go on-the-record for fear of retaliation from City Hall.
Confidence in the City’s processes is so low, and delays so common, many businesses start renovations and builds prior to permits being issued.
The City issues an Order to Comply, and businesses ignore them. It’s become so common, this journalist can no longer reliably use Orders to Comply as a signal of an problem. Non-compliance is the only means for business survival.
Richard Shearer, Senior Research Associate & Senior Project Manager – Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institute wrote an excellent assessment of Amazon’s play for corporate welfare:
As is often the case with corporate expansions and relocations like this one, there’s a very good chance Amazon already knows exactly where it would like to open its second headquarters, which would mean its request for proposals is a way of inviting the place it has already chosen to foot the bill for Amazon’s new digs.
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Inverting to Canada would send a strong message about the company’s attitudes about the U.S. political environment right now. But, again, Amazon does not think short term. Moving to Canada would send the wrong message at the wrong time. It would invite a costly and ongoing rebuke from President Trump and his supporters. It would also play into President Trump’s arguments about U.S. corporate tax policy—a debate Amazon probably wants to avoid. And if the president’s tax reform proposals do become law, the move to Canada could prove shortsighted.
Particularly relevant to Hamilton is the assessment that Amazon has much to lose in political capital by moving to Canada, and the international transportation infrastructure Amazon is seeking.
On transportation and logistics, Amazon is building an administrative campus, not a fulfillment centre. They want to be within 45 minutes of an international airport with daily direct flights to Seattle, New York, the San Francisco Bay area, and Washington DC; and for this airport to be connected by higher-order public transit.
Hamilton International Airport is to the definition of airports what the Rockton World’s Fair is to world fairs – sure its in the name, and we love to boost about them, but neither register on a global scale.
For all the talk of Hamilton’s port as a unique advantage in our bid, nobody is riding ships for travel, and even if Amazon were building a fulfillment centre, they are not using cargo ships to deliver consumer goods.
Amazon is looking for a metro area with a population of over one million, Hamilton’s CMA population in 2016 was 747,545.
The New York Times does a great job of showing how Amazon’s criteria applies to major US population centres, and narrows the candidates to a handful of metros. This story is a great read: Dear Amazon, We Picked Your New Headquarters for You.
Hamilton’s growing due to spillover from Toronto’s growth, but we’re not growing like Kitchener-Waterloo – and we’re losing influence nationally to KW.
Amazon’s criteria (excluding corporate welfare) provide us with benchmarks to focus on in the coming years to position Hamilton as a great place to locate a business.
Amazon wants a skilled labour force; one of their requests beyond post-secondary education data is information on computer science programs in our K-12 schools – companies are looking beyond Mohawk and McMaster to see if Hamilton is preparing for the future; let’s make sure they see we are.
This week, we learned that our Grade 6 youth are not meeting EQAO standards for math, what are we doing about this beyond thinking of it as just a school board issue?
Is it time for Council to fund math tutoring in public libraries? Let’s have that discussion, and ask questions like would the hundreds of thousands being spent on Operation HAmazon produce more future jobs if we used the funds to improve our children’s math literacy?
Amazon wants to locate alongside higher order transit, Hamilton’s failing to provide reliable lower order bus transit, and Council still hasn’t fully committed to LRT.
How many companies are locating in Kitchener – Waterloo instead of Hamilton because KW built higher order transit while our Council was instead building our last Big Thing – the stadium?
Amazon wants to locate where there is a cluster of other large headquarters and seeks testimonials from those large companies. We no longer have large corporate headquarters in Hamilton. We cannot offer testimonials to Amazon.
This brings us back to the restaurant owners – are they giving word-of-mouth testimonials to others in their industry in private conversations? What is City Hall doing to change and create opportunities for existing businesses to deliver unprompted testimonials about how great it is to do business in Hamilton?
Hamilton’s days as the industrial powerhouse of Ontario was as a branch plant city – we housed the Canadian operations of American powerhouses. Today, American powerhouses are in information technology and information systems. They are locating their branches in KW and Toronto.
Despite heroic efforts by Hamilton’s IT & IS community to build our local ecosystem to attract others in the sector to Hamilton; City Hall failed to create and execute an effective comprehensive strategy for competing against Toronto and KW in the IT sector.
We’ll attract the Amazon’s of the world once we’re attracting the medium size firms of the information economy.
Hamilton City Hall is inflicted with “One Big Thing Syndrome”, it’s always one thing that is going to cure the post-industrial state Hamilton is afflicted.
The one big thing is all that City Hall focuses on; it’s always going to be the big win, Hamilton is going to win no matter the odds, and daring to challenge the Syndrome results in one’s love of Hamilton being called into question – hence there’s little civic discussion of the merits of continuing to chase One Big Win.
One Big Win never works. There’s no small irony in noting that Council sold off our 600 kilometre City-owned fibre optic network in 2008 and dismantled our downtown WiFi network during its last One Big Win project – the stadium.
The problem is that while staring at the Sun, City Council becomes blinded to the road ahead of them.
Even if the HAmazon One Big Win project wins, as David Zipper writes at City Lab, “It’s rosy at best to presume that the next 20 years will be as kind to Amazon as the last 20. Local taxpayers shouldn’t bear the risk of the corporation’s financial future.”
The City Manager has assign City Hall’s most talented staff to HAmazon. City Council handed a blank cheque to work on the bid; with  approval of millions in corporate welfare likely to follow.
Let’s put those talents, and the blank cheque to work on this bid into the only guarantee of job creation – creating an environment for small and locally owned medium businesses to succeed.
2,500 more new jobs a year created by local businesses is achievable, and as a bonus, not only will the growth of small business result in more tax revenue, small business won’t be asking for a new round of corporate welfare in 20 years, in fact, they won’t demand corporate welfare in the first place.
Instead of always looking for One Big Thing to cure all, City Council needs to start working on creating the conditions for hundreds of local wins that cumulatively add up to more than the One Big Thing.
2,500 new jobs a year isn’t particularly ambitious, and it doesn’t make for big headlines.
It is possible, now let’s get to work.

created: September 22, 2017


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Tourism and Culture Hires Waterfront Trust for $95,000, and Purchase Order Makes Non-Compliance with PO Policy List – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

September 11, 2017
UPDATED STORY HERE: More on Waterfront Trust $95,000 Contract to Execute Tall Ships for City’s Culture and Tourism Department
The deficit-plagued non-transparent Hamilton Waterfront Trust has received more money from City Hall.
The Tourism & Culture division hired the HWT for $95,000 without a proper purchase order number, in violation of the City’s procurement policy.
Following Monday’s Audit, Finance, and Administration Committee meeting, the City’s Director of Tourism and Culture Anna Bradford explained there was “a timing issue due to a staff illness”.
“This individual was supposed to have submitted a policy 11 for single-source provider. Work had already started as per the agreement with HWT; but, the policy 11 had not been submitted due to that individual being off sick.”
The Waterfront Trust was contracted by the City to “supply and deliver” the Rendez-vous 2017 Tall Ships Regatta on Canada Day weekend.
The violation was reported by the City’s Finance division in their quarterly procurement non-compliance report.
The Hamilton Waterfront Trust has many City contracts in addition to its annual operating funding. The vast majority of them are not publicly reported, this was is known due to the technical violation of procurement procedures due to staff illness.
The HWT is presently locked in legal litigations, and subject to much public questions about their operations and finances.
Ward 2 City Councillor Jason Farr is refusing to answer any questions related to the Waterfront Trust, refusing to release minutes of the Trust, and refusing to release the financial status of the Waterfront Trust.
The City has not provided any information about the payment, or why it was proceeded in a non-compliant matter.
Councillors received the report without comment.


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City of Hamilton PEDtalk on Tall Buildings Featuring Ken Greenberg and Steve Robichaud – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

October 30, 2017
The City of Hamilton’s Planning and Economic Development held a public lecture on “The When, Where and How of Tall Buildings in Hamilton” on Monday, October 30, 2017 at the McMaster Downtown Health Sciences Campus.
Renowned planner and urban designer Ken Greenberg discussed urban design and community planning for higher density development and integration of tall buildings into Hamilton’s Downtown and other neighbourhoods across the City.
Hamilton’s Chief Planning, and Director of the City’s Planning Division, Steve Robichaud spoke about the City’s new Tall Building Guidelines and Downtown Secondary Plan.
Following their presentations, Greenberg and Robichaud took questions from the audience.
Full video above or on The Public Record’s Facebook page here.

created: October 30, 2017


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City Rat Complaints More than Double in 2017 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

October 14, 2017
The City’s Public Health Department says its received more than double the number of rat complaints thus far in 2017 than they did in all of 2016.
“The risk of disease from rats in Ontario is low,” states the staff report signed by Kevin McDonald, Acting Director of Healthy Environments. “Tthe focus of our resources is about controlling rats rather than about disease transmission”
The City has implemented increased public education, sewer baiting to kill rats, and requiring pest control plans as part of construction permitting.
Hamilton’s rat complaints remain below those of other cities.
Public Health says they will continue education campaigns and working with other City departments to decrease the rat population.

created: October 14, 2017


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Council Miscalculation: How the Ward Boundary Settlement Sets Council’s Defeat at the OMB – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

October 11, 2017
There’s a lot of confusion about what the settlement reached between the City of Hamilton and Mark Richardson means. On its own, the settlement means little. It does not end the OMB hearing, it merely removes Mark Richardson as an active appellant, leaving the City to argue against the remaining appellant Robert Dobrucki.
Viewed in isolation, the settlement looks to be a victory for Council – it does little to advance equitable representation, protects incumbent friendly boundaries, and fulfills Council’s preference for a City divided along former municipal boundaries.
This short view is why Council approved a settlement which significantly undermines their primary arguments, and sets the stage their defeat at the OMB.
They are seeing a short-sighted victory that effectively maintains the status quo, with only one noteworthy change in the settlement from Council’s original gerrymandered boundaries – the move of Ward 1 Poll 103 into Dundas’ Ward 13.
The noteworthy change may seem insignificant, and the relatively unknown Robert Dobrucki may seem on paper an unworthy opponent to the City’s expensive legal team and paid experts.
The moving of Poll 103 sets in motion a series of arguments which severely undermine the Council’s legal position.
Dobrucki – while an unknown to us – is respected in municipal academic circles as a leading mind on municipal political boundaries.
In short, Richardson wisely allowed Council to walk themselves into defeat, and with his legal counsel Craig Burley won a significant victory that is not readily apparent.
Poll 103 is the portion of Ainslie Wood north of Main Street East and west of McMaster University.
Primarily a student neighbourhood, it has the lowest voter turnout in the entire City of Hamilton – only 152 ballots were cast at the poll out of at least 2000 potential voters. (Poll 103 includes on-campus student residences)
For Council, moving this population into Dundas enables a major shift of population into
Ward 13, protecting incumbent Arlene Vanderbeek’s suburban seat without the risk of changing the political balance of the ward. The seemingly safe political assumption being that McMaster students can be ignored because they don’t vote anyway.
Council primary argument for maintaining disproportionate representative weighing in favour of the seven suburban wards is they form a separate “community of interest” from the urban wards with unique needs, unique taxation (area-rating), unique history, and unique local identities which significantly differ from those on the other side of the former municipal boundary of the old City of Hamilton.
The term “community of interest” stems from the 1991 Supreme Court of Canada “Carter Decision” in which the Court determined that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms mandates “effective representation”, not necessarily equal representation.
The Court held that factors such as geography, community history, community interests, and representation of minorities can be weight in the creation of political boundaries.
The Ontario Municipal Board considers the Carter criteria when considering appeals of ward boundaries.
The OMB ruled in its 2013 review of Kingston’s ward boundaries that post-secondary students are a community that must be counted and considered in determining ward boundaries.
OMB Member Sylvia Sutherland wrote in her decision that the City of Kingston was not justified in excluding the student community in their creation of ward boundaries. [para 20]
Sutherland wrote students require representation from municipal councillors. She wrote their average nine months of residency each year “does not mean that they do not use City services, have no issues to bring to their local government, and do not create issues for others to bring to their local government” [para 24].
Sutherland ruled students are not just a community of interest but also a minority in a municipal ward context “Certainly post-secondary students represent community interest as well as a community of interests and minority representation” [para 40].
The Board ordered new ward boundaries that included student population in its calculation, and a ward that enabled students to have effective representation (if they ever bother to vote in sufficient numbers) on Kingston’s City Council.
In the same ruling, the Board held the City could not split a long standing neighbourhood district due to the effect on its neighbourhood association.
Council’s primary argument is that in order to protect rural and suburban Hamilton, those communities combined must have an effective veto over the more urban former City of Hamilton.
While both Hamilton’s rural and lower-density suburbs deserve effective representation on Council, effective representation does not require they have an objectors veto. Each of the proposed boundaries have included wards that were largely rural, and other wards that serve to ensure representation of the low-density suburban form on Council.
There is no overriding reason that the McMaster student community must be split between Ward 1 and 13, in order to allow Dundas to exists as one of the smallest wards by population, alongside Wards 14 and 15 as having the smallest populations.
The harm done to the ability of students to achieve effective representation by voting is significant.
The Dundas Councillor has no reason to effectively represent student interests as the students are a small segment of Ward 13 with their potential votes (even if they voted at the average of 40%, which they do not) diluted among 30,000 residents of Dundas.
West Hamilton Ward 1 Councillors have traditionally under-served the student population, as they don’t vote and McMaster Students Union leaders infrequently engage in representing student concerns to the municipal government.
Last year saw MSU Vice-President Education Blake Oliver begin to effectively engage with the municipal government. This year, MSU President Chukky Ibe is advocating on student issues, and beginning voter education efforts in preparation for the October 2018.
Council’s decision to sever a large portion of the student population severely frustrates the efforts of the MSU to gain effective representation, and in light of the Kingston decision, the OMB cannot allow this split to stand.
The remaining appellant, Robert Dobrucki, a Dundas resident, is the stronger appellant in this case. He is better versed in this specialized area of municipal law, and analyses municipal boundaries as a passionate amateur. A lawyer, Dobrucki works for a major labour union as a negotiator. He’s appealing in his personal capacity.
Dobrucki is extremely knowledgeable on the OMB case law regarding political boundaries, and will argue a strong case.
The City’s hired lawyer Steven Ferri is one of the leading municipal lawyers in Ontario. Dobrucki is his equal in the forum of the OMB.
Their styles and approaches could be little more different – Dobrucki dresses humbly, reflective of what one would expect of a union organizer. Ferri is the stereotypical Bay Street lawyer, expensive suit, costly leather shoes, and a watch showing off his hourly rate. (Ferri’s office is near Pearson, not Bay Street)
At the initial pre-hearing in August, Ferri was dismissive towards Dobrucki, which drew a not-subtle correction from the presiding OMB Executive Chair.
This dismissiveness, and Dobrucki’s low profile has likely caused Council to under-estimate Dobrucki.
In its news release announcing the settlement, Council declared they will seek the OMB to dismiss Dobrucki’s appeal and implement their settlement.
The OMB will not be doing so, not only because Dobrucki will have prepared a substantial case requiring review – it was City Councillors Judi Partridge and Terry
Whitehead who attended the OMB in person to demand the hearings be longer and more open to public participants than is routine for the OMB.
The OMB would be – in the terminology used by Partridge and Whitehead – undemocratic to not conduct the full hearing.
There is irony in these Councillors’ political posturing preventing Council from getting the quick win they seek.
Last fall, Rob Dobucki was on The Public Record Radio Show to discuss ward boundaries. I had sought an academic to speak to boundaries from a learned perspective, three of the academics I contacted recommended Dobucki – stating he could speak from a more informed perspective.
Since my first introduction to Dobucki, I’ve learned a little bit of how extensive his networks run among municipal political professors, social researchers, and geographers.
He has pro-bono access to experts who are assisting him to prepare a strong case. It could be my East End roots speaking, but I’d rather have Dobucki’s grassroots network than a team of well-paid Toronto lawyers.
Dobucki’s arguments will likely include detailed research such as the recent paper presented at the Canadian Political Science Association conference which shows Hamilton’s present ward boundaries has one of the worst effects for diminishing the votes of visible minorities due to the over-representation of majority white suburban areas.
Mark Richardson’s settlement is a significant victory for Dobucki’s case against Council’s gerrymandering. By agreeing to the new boundaries, Council has acknowledged that their original boundaries are flawed.
In attaching that portion of Ainslie Wood to Dundas, Council removed all of their tax and different political interest arguments for maintaining the existing Hamilton/Suburb divide.
Geographically, Poll 103 – North Ainslie Wood is significantly separated from Dundas by a combination of major roadways, high-voltage hydro corridors, and river creek valley.
The decision to ignore these geographical features eliminates Council arguments that suburban communities deserve over-representation due to geographical features.
Council’s political self-dealing has come back to bite them.
On the surface, the Richardson settlement looks to be a “surrender” to Council.
Richardson was criticized on social media for making it.
Yet for all the social media criticism, it was only Mark Richardson who stepped forward from the active social media pundits to actually file an appeal. On these grounds alone, many of the critics had little standing to complain – they didn’t file appeals.
Lawyer Craig Burley, who took on the case pro-bono representing Richardson, has taken some negative feedback in his own community of Ainslie Wood for allowing the divide of the neighbourhood.
It’s the nature of the OMB process that neither can provide comment outside of their tame statements about the settlement. By backing away, and gaining concessions from the City, both have “taken one for the team” and set the conditions for Dobrucki to win the ultimate goal – fair representation for Hamiltonians with political boundaries that force politicians to start providing vision instead of peddling division.
Hamiltonians owe them a debt for their service to advancing our democracy.
CORRECTION:
An earlier version of this article stating Dobrucki was a non-practicing lawyer. In fact, he is practicing. The appeal is his personal capacity and not in his professional role.

created: October 11, 2017


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Hamilton Planning Committee Approves 23-Storey Tall Building at Former All Saints Church Site at King and Queen – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

October 15, 2017
Hamilton City Council’s Planning Committee approved an increase in height for the redevelopment of former All Saints Church Site at 15 Queen Street South at the intersection of King Street West at the edge of Downtown Hamilton.
The development was approved in 2012 at 12-storeys, the developer is now planning to build 23-storeys.
The building will contain retail and the new worship space or the Anglican parish of All Saints on the ground floor. There will be one level of underground parking and three levels of above ground parking contained within the second to fourth floors of the building.
The top 19 floors will contain 212 residential units.
Council needs to formally ratify their vote on October 25.

created: October 15, 2017


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Hamilton City Council General Issues Committee for October 18, 2017 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

October 18, 2017
Hamilton City Councillor met in General Issues Committee on October 18, 2017.
Full video above or on our YouTube page.

created: October 18, 2017


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Hamilton City Council Planning Committee for October 17, 2017 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

October 17, 2017
Full Video of Council’s October 17, 2017 Planning Committee meeting.
Full video above and on our YouTube page.

created: October 17, 2017


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Hamilton City Council Planning Committee for October 3, 2017 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

October 3, 2017
Full Video of Council’s October 3, 2017 Planning Committee meeting.
Full video above and on our YouTube page.

created: October 3, 2017


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Council gives Friends of Aviary at Least a Month to Propose a Plan for Future of Aviary – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

October 15, 2017
This is a updated story following the Public Works Committee meeting. Full Video of the debate above or on our YouTube page here
City Councillors are giving the Friends of the Aviary at least a month to determine which of the competing Boards is the valid Board of the volunteer organization, and for them to propose a plan for the future of the Hamilton Aviary.
Councillors held over 30 minutes of discussion in closed session with the City Solicitor in regards to the legal complexities of the matter.
City staff are recommending closing the Aviary located within Churchill Park in Westdale following a OSPCA order that conditions in the Aviary are in violation of provincial regulations.
The recommendation to close is the result of the recent difficulties with the Friends taking care of the birds, the condition of the present Aviary building, and the cost of building a new facility.
Staff state the Aviary presently houses 65 birds, and this number is declining as the Aviary does not breed nor accept new birds.
In 2010, building a new Aviary in Gage Park was considered to replace the “temporary” aviary at Churchill Park which has housed the birds since 1995 when the Aviary moved from Dundurn Castle. Council voted to not construct a new aviary at Gage Park.
Under a 1992 agreement with the old City of Hamilton, the Friends of the Aviary were responsible for the care of the birds, and the City would provide use of the “temporary” facility.
In August, City staff requested the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals attend the site.  The OSPCA issued a order requiring the correcting of a “notable mice infestation, as well as the installation of full spectrum lighting”.
Resulting from this, City staff recommend shutting down the aviary and transferring the birds to “more appropriate homes”.
Staff state the City should transfer the birds on the condition they will be transferred back to the Friends of the Aviary if the volunteer organization is able to “establish a private aviary, with sustainable business plan, independent of the City of Hamilton” by January 15, 2021.
The City Solicitor’s Office provided Councillors with a confidential legal report regarding the 1992 agreement. The memo is not public, and Councillors are allowed under Section 239 of the Municipal Act to debate this matter in closed session.
The public staff report can be viewed here: http://hamilton.siretechnologies.com/sirepub/view.aspx?cabinet=published_meetings&fileid=23231


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Hamilton Council to Vote on Staff Report Recommending Projects for Provincial Greenhouse Gas Fund – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

October 15, 2017
The Province announced a $100-million fund for municipal greenhouse gas reduction, and City of Hamilton staff have completed a list of recommended projects to submit for funding.
Among the 39 projects staff are recommending to apply to the fund for are:


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Hamilton Development Industry Liaison Committee for October 16, 2017 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

October 16, 2017
The Development Industry Liaison Committee meeting overlapped with the Public Works Committee on this day, The Public Record was only able to attend the first 30 minutes of the meeting.

created: October 16, 2017


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Hamilton Library Plans Launch of Freelton Extended Hours on October 26 – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

October 18, 2017
The Library’s new rural extended hours pilot at the Freelton branch will “soft” launch “quietly” on October 21, Karen Anderson, Director, Public Service told the Library Board.
Presently, Freelton is open five days per week for a total of 17 hours. The pilot increases the staffed hours to 24 per week, and further hours in addition during which the branch will be remotely monitored by Central Library security staff, and Freelton library users will be able connect with a librarian via video conferencing.
To access the library during non-staffed hours, patrons must register at the branch during staffed hours. The extended hours are Monday to Thursday: 9am-8pm, and Friday & Saturday: 9am-5pm.
When approved in March, the plan was to launch in September. Technology logistics have pushed back the date. Hamilton is the first library in Canada to implement type of service.
More information on the pilot, and the Freelton Branch is available in our coverage from March.


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Council Praises HSR Director, Avoid Questions About Bus Operator Shortage – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

October 14, 2017
HSR Director Debbie Dalle Vedove presented her plan to restructure HSR’s upper management to Council’s Public Works Committee on Monday.
The restructuring was first made public by The Public Record nearly two months ago in our post With Major Changes to Management and a New Slogan, HSR Wants to Be Your First Choice.
The number of upper managers remains the same, with the manager of the eliminated Manager of Accessible Transit Services named to a new Manager of Special Projects position. The other management positions are more clearly defined as detailed in the graphic below.
Councillors heaped praise upon the HSR Director, hailing the HSR management for excellence in service and management.
No critical questions were raised by Council, even has dozens of bus trips each week are not operated due to a growing staff shortage.
The shortage was caused by a temporary hiring freeze this past winter, following by significant hiring cuts ordered by Council as part of cancelling the 10 Year Transit Plan.
As the HSR shortage worsens, sources are telling The Public Record that many operators who are eligible for retirement are choosing to retire. Many of those operators have worked for years past their retirement dates, and this unexpected increase in retirements is exceeding the HSR’s ability to train new operators.
On September 20th, The Public Record filed two Freedom of Information requests to the City of Hamilton seeking information on cancelled bus trips resulting from a shortage of operators, and a separate request for the maintenance records of the HSR including details on breakdowns of buses.
The request is for records from January 1, 2015 to September 30, 2017.