Learn the issues, know the area and meet the candidates
TRANSIT: Given the stated priorities of a whopping 11 candidates in Ward 7, newly elected MPP Donna Skelly’s former territory, transit figures as a wedge issue heading into the Oct. 22 election.
SAME ROUTE, different opinions.
Loretta Bouskill is waiting for the 41 Mohawk just north of CF Lime Ridge Mall on Upper Wentworth Street.
“I think it’s great. I have no problem with it,” the retiree says about Hamilton’s bus service.
Joy Onokoko also waits for the 41 Mohawk, but a few minutes earlier at the mall’s terminal.
“In my opinion, I think it’s really slow,” says Onokoko, 15.
Bus service on the Mountain has generated differences of opinion at city hall, as well.
And given the stated priorities of 11 candidates in Ward 7, it looks to be an important issue heading into the Oct. 22 election.
This past year, the HSR has weathered backlash over a plague of bus no-shows due to a driver shortage.
Since June, however, it hasn’t had to cancel service, thanks to a hiring spree. At the end of September, there were 560 drivers and 10 more are in training, the city says.
This doesn’t come cheap.
The third year of the city’s 10-year transit strategy cost $3.4 million. And big expenses are ahead with ambitions to roll out a so-called BLAST network, which would add express routes across the Mountain and to Waterdown.
In March, the provincial and federal governments announced $372 million in funding over 10 years to help the city meet its transit goals, including a new bus garage.
The delivery of that cash in years to come will be crucial.
Environment Hamilton argues the HSR can be improved all over the city by axing area rating, which sees taxpayers in the amalgamated parts of the municipality only pay for service in their wards.
Rather than through rising fares, city residents “would contribute to the same fund to provide better transit throughout all of Hamilton,” the organization says.
Better service on the Mountain has been a politically charged issue as Hamilton awaits the construction of a $1-billion LRT line from McMaster to Eastgate Square.
This is especially true in Ward 7, where former councillor Donna Skelly frequently railed against the fully funded provincial project before she left her seat to become MPP for Flamborough-Glanbrook.
For Bouskill, who praises the HSR, lower-city light rail just doesn’t hold much interest. “I would never use it,” she said.
Here are some other issues to consider in Ward 7 — still Hamilton’s most populous despite losing ground to redrawn boundaries.
Green space
It’s a big deal for people in Ward 7, says Coun. Terry Anderson, temporary fill-in after Skelly’s departure. “Sadly, as the school board sells property, green space in the middle of neighbourhoods is disappearing and turning into subdivisions.”
This is why Anderson wants the city to reconsider buying the vacated Linden Park elementary school, a 1.8-hectare parcel on Vickers Road.
The public board chair and area trustee have agreed to give the city 90 more days to consider a purchase, which will give the next council breathing room, he said.
Traffic safety
Anderson also says his constituents have complained about speedsters whipping through residential areas.
“All the traffic-calming tools that we have are being requested,” he said, pointing to speed bumps and stop signs.
With busy arteries like Upper Wentworth and Mohawk Road East, improving safety in the car-heavy ward is challenging.
The key, Anderson said, is to keep drivers exiting major routes like the Lincoln Alexander Parkway out of neighbourhoods.
Affordable housing
Quality, affordable housing is hard to come by on the Mountain.
A “slumlord” bus tour organized by housing advocates in August made that abundantly clear by pointing out a number of lowlights in Ward 7.
Hamilton ACORN’s tour featured private and publicly operated buildings alike.
CityHousing hopes to address some of the deficit with a new building in unused space at Macassa Lodge seniors’ residence.
The plan is to construct a $15-million building with 45 one-bedroom rent-geared-to-income units and 20 one-bedroom “moderately affordable market units.”
CityHousing says it will be about five years before residents can move in.