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March 2, 2004
THE MOVERS AND SHAKERS
A "Power Conference" of Larry DiIanni, Terry Cooke, the Chamber of Commerce, the Hamilton Spectator, and the head of the construction union and other self-styled 'movers and shakers' in Hamilton have decided that improving Hamilton's image is a number one priority.
The 220 people who shelled out $50 each to attend the conference "voted" for this priority, and the Spectator is reporting that the decisions they made "are now strategic objectives for Hamilton's economic development department". Apparently City Council has been replaced with more direct rule by the movers and shakers.
The image improvement strategy was selected in a conference centre located a few hundred metres from the Red Hill Valley clearcut. Perhaps they envision a billboard campaign in other Canadian cities depicting the "image improvement" underway in what was the city's largest park and natural area. It could be titled: "Clearing the road to progress in Hamilton" or "Come to Hamilton where we don't let the environment push us around".
If it weren't so sad it would be funny. Do these people really believe that Hamilton's IMAGE has any hope of improving while they do everything in their power to destroy its REALITY?
The mover and shaker who proposed the image improvement exercise moaned that outsiders view Hamilton as "dusty, dirty and dark" and suggested we promote our waterfalls. Has he not noticed that three of those waterfalls are in Red Hill Valley where it is certainly dusty, dirty and dark today?
The "dusty, dirty and dark" doesn't just apply to Red Hill. Our self-styled leaders have intentionally abandoned nearly all the city built prior to 1970. Instead they have organized and led a mad chase to turn as much rural area as possible into ugly and very expensive sprawl.
The result has been a City where:
- The population in the pre-1970 portion of the city has fallen by over 60,000 people
- Over 28% of our workforce (55,000 workers) is employed outside Hamilton
- There are fewer jobs today in Hamilton than there were in 1990
- Over 100,000 people (22% of our population) live below the poverty line
Apparently oblivious to the results of their sprawl addiction, our self-styled leaders other number one priority at their power conference was "shovel-ready land" around the airport to accommodate even more sprawl.
Another result of the last 30 years of "leadership" has been a City which has
- The lowest average incomes in a large Canadian city
- Virtually the highest residential tax rates in Ontario
- The highest municipal budget deficit per capita in Ontario
The solution from our leaders is to raise residential taxes so there can be even more reductions in business taxes. In the last three years, business taxes in Hamilton have been cut by $31 million. Residential taxes went up in each of those years and are poised to jump dramatically in 2004 because of the accumulated budget deficit.
This leadership has made Hamilton into the city that time left behind. It's not an image makeover we need; it's a leadership makeover.
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