Elections
John Scime, Candidate for Ward 12 in Hamilton Municipal Election 2018
Details page for this candidate.
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Candidate Details (top)
| Name | Scime, John |
|---|---|
| Election | Hamilton Municipal Election 2018 |
| Area | Ward 12 |
| Party | N/A |
| Votes | 0 |
| john2018@johnscime.ca | |
| Website | http://johnscime.ca/ |
| Home | 905-515-3370 |
| Business | |
| Fax | |
| Bio | Born to hard working Italian-Canadian parents, John was raised in the East End of Hamilton. Family, education and athletics were the most important focus in his life in that order. John grew up in Ancaster with his extended family, and never forgot the great moments that the area offered him. This made it easy to offer his athletic skillset to coach football at Bishop Tonnos High School in Ancaster while living in Corktown.
Throughout his education, John was able to maintain high success in Baseball and Football earning Academic-Athletic awards and bursaries. John was the 2nd athlete ever awarded the Joe Marco Award for high academic honours and athletics from Mohawk College. John completed his Diploma in Computer Science with Certifications in Software Engineering and Information Systems, and was offered to teach part time after graduation at his alma mater. John was able to take the analytical and project management skills during his years in the Computer Science field and apply it to earn multiple accreditations in the Corporate Security field as a second career; • Certified Forensic Interviewer • Certified Cyber Intelligence • Workplace Violence and Harassment Investigation • Statement Analysis and Handwriting After living in various neghbourhoods throughout the city, John (his wife Trish, daughter Addison and son Aiden) was fortunate enough to settle in the Nakoma neighbourhood of Ancaster. Throughout their journey, the family never forgot to give back. As a teacher in the east end of Hamilton, Trish faces some of the most economically challenged demographics. This is where a lot of the family’s attention and community service is focused. After hearing of some concerns in the town, John’s focus became community engagement and knew that a Neighbourhood Association was needed. This began the Meadowland/Tiffany Hills Neighbourhood Association. When not working, John supports the sustainability of the Neighbourhood Assoc., has become an avid bike rider taking on the amazing trails the escarpment has to offer, and sitting on the Home and School Committee to ensure his children get the opportunities he did growing up. You can also catch him in section #112 at Ticat games. His love for Hamilton and Ancaster are only second to his family and friends. |
Responses to Questions (top)
| Question | Brief Response | Full Response |
|---|---|---|
| Do you support phasing out area rating for transit? Why or why not? | Yes | The short answer is Yes, but phased. I do believe in addressing the area rating in an urban/rural aspect whereby removing area rating for any urban designated area. The issue becomes the urban perimeters and how they are outlined. I believe that the rural areas should not incur transit tax levy until we are able to implement viable transit to those areas. This is why I have qualified the Yes. |
| Hamilton has been experiencing a slow-motion crisis in housing affordability. Do you support an expanded role for the City to provide more affordable housing? If so, what should Hamilton do? If not, why not? | Yes | I do support an expanded role of the City. As I briefly touch on in the first question, when we continue to locate our density in the appropriate places, we have an opportunity to quickly catchup with an affordable housing plan. It is important to work with the developers to provide this type of residence and hold account to the provisions set out in the urban development plan. |
| Hamilton has a legacy of multi-lane, one-way arterial streets dating back to the 1950s. Do you support accelerating the conversion of these streets to two-way? Why or why not? | Yes | As stated above, the continuation of one-way conversions are a must, but we need to design these two ways with purpose. It must meet the needs of the neigbourhood. We continue to be viewed as one of the most confusing driving cities and I was told when I learned how to drive, “You can’t make a quick left, but you can make 3 lefts”. This creates hesitation and heightens the risks of drivers, riders, and pedestrians because of the lack of experience driving in this city. |
| Council has voted dozens of times since 2008 to advance Hamilton's light rail transit (LRT) project, including voting to submit the plan with a full funding request to the Province in 2013, and voting to accept full funding and implementation from the Province in 2015. Do you support completing the LRT plan? Why or why not? | Yes | Yes. Each time I weigh the pros and cons of the project (and there are) I continue to come back to “We don’t know how to be a big city. We are afraid to grow up”. The LRT is the right choice for various reasons, and to draw it back to Ward 12 it is fundamentally about density and slowing urban development. Implementing the LRT solution we will create density in an area that can manage density and provide affordable housing for those who the LRT will attract. We will not need to plow through agricultural land to gain residential tax dollars that this city desperately needs. This first phase of the project is vital to the ALine. I have been a supporter of the ALine from the beginning. It’s a great opportunity to provide very quick service from the GO to the Airport (another vital component to our growth) and have commuters utilize this service instead of sitting on the 403, LINC, or Red Hill. As I stated, Ancaster has the Meadowlands retail complex (TLine) and Duff’s Corner Retail complex and Ancaster Business Park which would be the SLINE. The completion of these lines would drive business to each part of the city. |
| The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act mandates that cities must be completely accessible by 2025. What changes would you make to ensure Hamilton complies with this mandate? | Yes | There are wide arrays of AODA compliance regulations that the city needs to catch up on (not including transit accessibility, which is a problem in its own). When I speak of incremental solutions, this is very close to what I mean. There have been opportunities to chip away at each variable and we continue to “wait” until we are forced to comply. I believe that we do have a responsibility to be a part of the solution, but do not believe we should be the only government body to shoulder the capital costing. Residents fall under all three governments, but the municipality could ultimately be left funding all operational costs to implement hundreds of millions of capital costs. This is too much to ask of a municipality that could use it on funding on programs and projects that the Province is cutting. |
| Since the 1950s, most new residential and commercial development in Hamilton has been single-use suburban sprawl. Do you believe Hamilton needs to concentrate new development within the already-built area? Why or why not? | Yes | I believe that suburban development needs to slow down, and the focus be generated towards those areas that have the viable resources and infrastructure to handle such an infill and density. The rejuvenation of the LRT corridor would assist in this 5-7 year very deliberate planning stage for the outskirts. The city continues to build fast and furious to gain density because we have to, not because we think it is the right decision. These forced decisions will eventually come full circle with compounded problems. Slow it down and impact plan for future development. |
| Bonus question: If LRT goes ahead, what will you do to ensure Hamilton receives the maximum benefit? | Yes | When LRT moves through its final planning stages it is important to understand how future infrastructure dollars will be spread throughout the city. We know there will be hundreds of millions of dollars offsetting the infrastructure (sewers, water, communications, roads, etc) along the LRT corridor. We need to prorate the LRT corridors infrastructure budget and disperse it to other aging infrastructure projects. This is how Hamilton will maximize the total purse allocated for this funded project. |
| Global warming is an existential challenge facing humanity. Do you think Hamilton should play a role in addressing climate change? If so, what should the city be doing? If not, why not? | Yes | I believe that everyone has a humanitarian responsibility to do their part in addressing global warming. As a city, we need to continue to provide robust facilities to handle the changes and begin to influence behaviours of responsible waste reduction and curbing the atmospheric heat blanket that is continuing to thicken.
There are various components leading to the solution, but I believe that Hamilton can strive to be LEED Gold or Platinum in public buildings throughout the city. |
| Do you support improved public transit in Hamilton? If so, what changes do you propose? If not, why not? | Yes | I support improved public transit and the whole system of BLAST. We need to begin with the Bline LRT in order to provide the intrinsic benefits that LRT offers while revenue generating. Specifically in Ward 12, we need to slow down urban sprawl. Only the LRT version of the BLAST system will introduce the necessary density to slow down the mass development projects until we can get a handle on the necessary infrastructure needs.
Transit in any city is the backbone, and having a totally interconnected system is vital to becoming the big city we need to be. Reliability and safety are my main concerns. Currently we cannot transport people to different areas of the city. In Ward 12 we have 2 massive retail complexes and a Business Park that employ Hamiltonians. These need to continue to employ Hamiltonians. We need to provide reliable transit through well planned scheduling. These areas of the city are not 9-5 and schedules need to be carefully implemented. We do not do a good enough job to maintain rider confidence. HSR is a business and customer confidence is the same as any other business, we need to adapt to our customer, Riders. |
| Should Hamilton be trying to attract more young people to live, work and start businesses here, including the 60,000 students studying at Mohawk College, McMaster University and Redeemer University? If so, what should we be doing? If not, why not? | Yes | We need attract well balanced industries into the city without stigmas. When these opportunities are available, we lessen the probability for people to move and work/live elsewhere. As a resident of Hamilton my whole life, and a brief move to Ottawa and back, there is a stark difference in the culture of both cities. We need to encourage the development of our people and provide the culture and amenities to never leave. We do this by providing affordable housing, vast areas of cultural venues, and move our people safely around the corners of our city. Ultimately the decisions we make as a municipality should be in the best interest of retaining our residents. |
| Do you support the "Vision Zero" goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries in Hamilton? If so, what specific actions would you take to implement this policy? If not, why not? | Yes | Zero Vision is something that I whole heartedly believe in and have been a vocal advocate for safer streets. The safety of our residents at every level is the utmost importance. This needs to be a multi-pronged approach starting with street design and impact planning. Introducing lower inter-residential speed limits, protected bike lanes, and incorporating traffic calming measures is paramount. Continuing with one-way conversions with tighter turning radius would be a start with some of the arterial road. The fatalities due to excessive speeds and vulnerable pedestrians need to STOP, not tomorrow, not when we have the time or money to do it. NOW. One of my first objectives would be to right the wrongs on the Red Hill and mitigate the number of deaths.
Each mode of transportation needs to be incorporated into neighbourhood design phases and street design for protection and safety cannot be substituted for aesthetics. There is a way to get both. |
