Larry Di Ianni, Candidate for Mayor in Hamilton Municipal Election 2010 - Raise the Hammer Elections

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Candidate Details
Responses to Questions

Candidate Details (top)

Name	Di Ianni, Larry
Election	Hamilton Municipal Election 2010
Area	Mayor
Party	N/A
Votes	40091
Email	info@larryformayor.com
Website	http://larryformayor.com/
Home
Business	905-777-8683
Fax	905-381-4276
Bio	Larry Di Ianni came to Canada from Italy when he was 9 years old. He grew up on Cannon Street in the shadow of Ivor Wynne stadium and attended St. Ann’s Elementary School, Central Collegiate High School and Hamilton Collegiate Institute. Larry received his undergraduate degree from McMaster University before pursuing a Bachelor of Education and a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Toronto. He met the girl almost-next-door, Janet, and soon married. They later purchased their first home in Stoney Creek and recently celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary. They have three wonderful children, Robert, Paul and Stephanie. Robert married Teresa in 2005 and have since added 2 children to the Di Ianni family, Angelica and baby Luca. Larry had a distinguished career in education as a classroom teacher of English and eventually Principal of a number of secondary schools. He also became involved in local politics in Stoney Creek, serving on the city’s council for eighteen years. Larry was elected to the new city of Hamilton’s amalgamated council in 2000 and served as Mayor from 2003 to 2006. As Mayor, Larry championed anti-poverty initiatives, completion of the Red Hill Valley Parkway, development of employment lands to expand our jobs-base, revitalization of derelict buildings and improving public safety across the city .He also created community councils, strengthened relationships with senior levels of government and dealt with the social services funding model to help local taxpayers. Larry has had a long history of community involvement and has spent the last four years volunteering for the United Way, HARRRP Community Centres, Friends of Haida, the Catholic Children’s Aid Society, as well as at his local parish.

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Responses to Questions (top)

Question	Brief Response	Full Response
Do you support Hamilton's LRT proposal? If so, what will you do to ensure Hamilton's success in building LRT? If not, why do you oppose it?	Yes	I strongly support LRT. If elected on October 25th, I would immediately take steps to initiate a community-wide lobby effort of both the Provincial and Federal governments. This type of effort proved successful for Hamilton when I led the community in lobbying the McGuinty government for assistance with Social Services funding. The community group I would bring together to lobby senior governments would include McMaster University, Mohawk College, business, labour, community groups, social services, citizens representing our city's diversity and organizations who've been advocating for LRT. I would also ensure that our entire community was represented: Hamilton, Ancaster, Dundas, Flamborough, Glanbrook and Stoney Creek. Working together with Council and members of the community, we would produce a "Transit Hamilton" report that would describe our community's need for, benefits of, and plan regarding LRT. We would undertake a major community campaign including social media, petitions, rallies and presentations to governments in Toronto and Ottawa. The city's existing transit plans must also be revised to include areas of the city beyond the proposed LRT lines at Eastgate Square and McMaster University. This revised transit plan would provide details on LRT feeder routes and implementation timelines. The current plan excludes every other area of our community except for the old City. This is not how you build consensus and support - it's not how you build a city. We need to include and engage our entire community in the city's LRT and future transit plans.
Council is poised to vote on the Airport Employment Growth District, a 3,000 acre plan to expand the urban boundary around Hamilton International Airport for employment lands. Do you support this plan? Why or why not?	Yes	The Airport Employment Growth District formerly known as Aerotropolis, has been the subject of much debate for many years now. I support the need to develop an employment node around the airport, however as I've said in the past, the cost of servicing these lands can not come from our property tax base, but should be funded from the private sector in the form of development charges. Unlike Mayor Eisenberger and Councillor Bratina who voted to increase development charges only to then promptly give exemptions until January 2011, I would stay firm on the needed money to develop this employment node. In terms of the size of this growth district, several things have changed over the past few years that require a smaller footprint at the airport today than it might have been a few years ago. The former Stelco has diminished in size that will make some land available today that wasn't before. New technologies used in brownfield remediation are reducing clean-up costs and making brownfield sites more amenable to new construction. The City must take a close look at the 91 identified brownfield sites and the possibility of newly available industrial lands when making the final decision on the size of the airport land development for the next 5-7 years. As we've seen with the Red Hill Valley Parkway, investments the city makes to develop the airport employment growth district will be recouped over time as a result of assessment growth. In the few short years since the RHVP opened, the city has already seen nearly $3 million dollars per year in assessment growth - this number will increase exponentially as more businesses, such as Canada Bread owned by Maple Leaf Foods, develops in the Glanbrook Industrial Park.
Hamilton's Cycling Master Plan has Council approval. However, the implementation timeline is very long and ward councillors can block individual bike lane projects. Do you support accelerating the completion of a continuous bicycle network and other initiatives like a bike sharing program and better access up and down the Escarpment? Why or why not?	Yes	During my time as Mayor, several initiatives regarding cycling in our community took place, including a 2004 and 2006 Update on Cycling Infrastructure Initiatives and the West Hamilton Bicycle Network Review in 2006. I have always supported safe bike lanes, and I emphasize the word safe. Ever since I began riding my Vespa, I have viewed the necessity of road etiquette, safety and road infrastructure in a far more bike-friendly way. I support accelerating the completion of a continuous bicycle network in Hamilton. Other initiatives like a bike sharing program need further study and must consider the experiences of other municipalities who've implemented similar programs.
Should we spend the Future Fund to build a Pan Am / Ticat stadium on the CP Rail Yard lands? Why or why not?	No	Regardless of where the stadium is built, I would not 'use' Future Fund money to build it. Instead, money from the Future Fund would take the form of a loan that would be paid back over time. This would ensure that the Future Fund is available for generations to come. The city should never be the primary funder for any development project. Hamilton needs a stadium that we can afford. To make it feasible, we need support from the federal and provincial government as well as the private sector. Thus far, the City has not involved the private sector as much as we should. This sentiment has been expressed by both senior levels of government in recent weeks.
For your campaign, will you be accepting donations from corporations or unions? If so, why? If not, why not?	No	In this election, our community-based campaign will only accept personal contributions – no donations, (either monetary or in-kind) from unions or corporations will be accepted. As a previous federal candidate, I have already run an election campaign without corporate or union donations. I am confident that we will be able to raise the funds we need to run our campaign from individual donors throughout the community.