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March
1998 Newsletter
Five
Clues to the Downtown Hamilton Disaster
Population
Shift
The
1991 census reveals that the older area of lower Hamilton
has suffered a tremendous exodus. Between 1971 and 1991,
the population of the portion of the City below the escarpment
and between Dundas and Red Hill Creek dropped by over 40,000,
a 22% drop in twenty years. The same time period witnessed
dramatic growth of nearly 70,000 in suburban areas south
of Mohawk Road and east of Red Hill Creek. Yet the increase
for the whole city was only a little over 9,000. What looked
like "growth" in the suburbs, turns out to have
been mostly "shift" from older parts of the city.
Current official population plans for 1991-2021 call for
24,300 additional people in Hamilton. Over 98% are scheduled
to locate on the Mountain; total planned growth below the
escarpment is only 300 souls.
Shopping
Malls
Jackson
Square was opened at the beginning of this population shift,
but after 1975 the great majority of retail expansion occurred
on the Mountain. The mall space there grew at 2.5 times
the rate of the lower city in the 1976 to 1991 period. This
trend has accelerated to such an extent that the only shopping
mall growth since 1991 has occurred on the Mountain. While
hand-wringing about the demise of older commercial areas
has become popular, subsidies for new suburban growth continue
unabated. In 1996, for example, the City coffers contributed
over $150,000 to the costs of opening a new big box hardware
store in the suburbs.
Transit
Collapse
Following
in the wake of the mass exodus from the lower city, the
transit system went into freefall in the mid-1980s. Between
1985 and 1996 the HSR lost nearly one-third of its riders.
Passengers per year fell from 29.3 million in 1985 to 26.3
million in 1990 and then plumetted to less than 20 million
in 1996. A recent HSR survey found that 85% of its passengers
don't own a car.
Current
proposals to increase fares by 12.5% for adults and 47.5%
for children will only accelerate these trends. Indeed,
HSR officials are predicting a further decline in ridership
in 1998. This year's fare increases are particularly aimed
at casual riders, a policy that will dissuade new customers.
Subsidies
for Suburbs
Hamilton's
development charges are barely one-third as high as those
in Stoney Creek, and the charges imposed by the Regional
Municipality are significantly lower than neighbouring urban
regions. A recent CMHC study calculated that the public
costs of 'emplacement' of new suburban homes are over $21,000
per unit. The highest per unit development charge on a home
built in Hamilton is less than $7,000! This massive subsidy
of suburban sprawl is a major cause of high business and
residential taxes. On top of this, the Regional government
has rung up a phenomenal deficit of over $53 million in
its development charges account. This represents money spent
on growth-related capital projects for which development
charges have not yet even been collected. The 1996 regional
budget warned that an additional deficit of $47.2 million
may accumulate by the year 2000.
The
Expressway
A
large part of the development charges shortfall has been
expended on the east-west expressway (Lincoln Alexander
Parkway). This project, together with the planned north-south
expressway through the Red Hill Valley is the single most
expensive public project in the Region's history. Much of
the spending so far has been robbed from the maintenance
budgets of existing roads, water and sewer facilities. "The
allocation of funding for maintenance, rehabilitation and
replacement of existing infrastructure has been reduced
to permit funding of special projects such as the Red Hill
Creek Expressway, PaRCIL and the Emergency Communication
System. Such action has caused the maintenance level for
existing infrastructure to fall below sustainable levels."
(Report of senior staff to the Chairman's Budget Steering
Committee, Feb.17, 1997).
The
main reason for the north-south portion is to encourage
more residential growth in upper Stoney Creek. At least
$75 million still has to be borrowed by local government
just to complete its construction. Average annual maintenance
costs appear likely to exceed $8 million a year, and will
be paid entirely by local taxpayers. This is four times
the amount currently being requested for investment in downtown
Hamilton. The cost of the two expressways will do more than
push the already high business taxes through the roof. They
will funnel customers to the suburban malls and big box
stores, and just as certainly they will funnel public and
private dollars away from the downtown and other older areas
of Hamilton.
The
massive public subsidy of private cars embodied in these
projects will accelerate the decline of the transit system.
The accompanying destruction in the last forested parkland
east of McMaster University will also certainly drive more
residents to flee the environmental liabilities of the lower
city. Finally, the financial burden will push already high
business taxes through the roof.
The
Bottom Line
Construction
of the north-south Red Hill Creek Expressway is incompatible
with the restoration of downtown Hamilton and the re-invigoration
of other older commercial areas in the city. It will greatly
reduce quality of life and increase the tax burden. This
is especially true when we remember that current maintenance
budgets for our water and sewer system are more than $100
million below the sustainable levels, and that local expenditures
in excess of $250 million are still required to complete
the cleanup of Hamilton Harbour.
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