Remember what makes Hamilton special
The pandemic has allowed time and space for reflection.
Our beautiful city faces a juncture — a fork in the road whereby it must choose a deliberate path that would improve life for many more citizens or continue to let market forces and ennui steer the city fruitlessly in search of an “old normal” that will not return.
Hamilton has an opportunity — a perfect storm of crises and potential solutions that have emerged during a period of anxiety, sadness and revelation over 20 months.
The greatest mission of all time is to restore the safety and health of our planet and secure a constructive, healthy future for today’s children.
Hamilton faces a critical housing affordability challenge. A response that expands city boundaries would bring longer commutes, loss of valuable farmland and new shopping centre parking lots at a time when existing retail centres are struggling to survive.
Creative 21st-century design principles, improved building materials and environmentally-sound technologies for heating and cooling homes would optimize land use and reduce carbon emissions. Positive attitudes toward shared common areas and recreational space would enhance community cohesion where children and adults can access natural outdoor space and safer places to play. Mixed housing neighbourhoods that are walkable, with “complete streets,” shared recreation and gathering space, and beautiful design would contribute to “a sense of place” that encourages pride of ownership and community wellbeing.
The pandemic has reminded us that children are the future but their future has been dimmed by extended school closures and other deprivations that have been felt differently by various economic groups but universally by all children.
Data emerging on their experience these past 20 months confirm that many children have lost ground emotionally, socially, physically and cognitively. All city decisions to build back better should prioritize children’s present and future well-being.
This means transforming education — schools, curriculum, teaching methods, school play grounds — and updating teacher training and supports for teachers. Similarly, health-care institutions have been grievously impacted by entrenched leadership and political interference.
Meanwhile, Hamilton is tied in knots over city boundary expansion versus no expansion. Residents registered their choice which overwhelmingly favoured retention of Hamilton’s already expansive boundaries. The city should use current space more efficiently, fill unused urban spaces and niches and ensure that zoning laws and bylaws support healthy neighbourhoods with easy access to workplaces, services, retail, and recreational space. Elected officials and planners should incentivize and explicitly direct the aspirations and activities of land developers and builders toward environmentally-sound priorities, instead of promoting further urban sprawl.
The opportunities of this unique juncture should not be squandered. The new normal should include principled leadership, adherence to science-based evidence, bold and responsible rejection of 20th-century demands and dire threats from provincial government, meaningful measures to reduce emissions, and commitment to healthier environments. City government should only approve building permits that comply with inclusive zoning laws and offer incentives to builders for proactive “new age” design and 21st century city planning guidelines. Prerequisites for residential development should favour attractive housing for low- and middle-income budgets for purchase or rentto-own contracts in neighbourhoods with services, retail, workplaces, and recreational space. Incentives and permit approvals should reward viable options for “aging in place” and humane standards of in-residence housing for the elderly and infirm.
The insights acquired during the pandemic should operationalize the dismantling of legal and policy barriers that obstruct “housing first” policies and practices. Serious gaps in our health-care and education systems have been exposed during the pandemic. Elected leaders should forge an innovative path forward instead of plastering over the institutional gaps and reaffirming the very policies and practices that let us down during the pandemic. Hamilton is known as a caring city with a powerful, humane punch provincially that also expresses itself nationally and globally. Let’s keep it that way.
Hamilton has an opportunity — a perfect storm of crises and potential solutions that have emerged during a period of anxiety, sadness and revelation over 20 months