Elections
Is Hamilton doing enough to support and encourage new investment in our older neighbourhoods? If not, what should the City be doing?
Responses to the question: "Is Hamilton doing enough to support and encourage new investment in our older neighbourhoods? If not, what should the City be doing?"
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4 Candidate Responses (top)
| Ward 07 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Brief Response | Full Response |
| Beck, Keith | Maybe | It's hard to assess if the city is doing enough to encourage new investment in our older neighbourhoods. It's easy to look around and say that not enough has happened. But, we recently reorganized the suite of incentives the city offers and the recession has put many plans for investment on hold. We're going to have to see what results their are in new construction in older areas over the next 2-3 years to see if what the city offers is enough to get what the community wants. |
| Duvall, Scott | Maybe | The City is doing much to encourage investment in the form of Grants, Loans and Programs for the B.I.A.s and new business owners across our community and in the downtown area. While there are rules that must be followed, the City is willing to work with all investors. However, I am continually dealing with residents in older neighbourhoods who have been promised new sidewalks and roads for 15 or 20 years. I am appalled that they have been consistently put off in favour of other projects, while their community's infrastructure crumbles, and have been advocating on their behalf on an ongoing basis. |
| Gallagher, John | No | It has become clearly apparent that the programs in place have failed to inspire Brownfield cleanup and to return them to productive properties has been a disappointing failure. As for our older, established neighborhoods, the high taxes, fees for service and other charges Hamilton imposes on property/business development discourages investment of any kind.
If elected, I will ask city council to explore ways to mitigate those high costs and, where possible, provide realistic financial incentives to encourage new investment. The financial benefit from returning properties that are currently not contributing to the tax base is obvious. |
| Pettit, Trevor | No | The current brouhaha surrounding the Pearl Company highlights that we need to rethink the way we do business. We need to cut red tape and streamline the process so that developers and investors jump at the chance to do business in our older neighbourhoods. We need to be careful not to focus on residential development in these areas as opposed to commercial/industrial wherever possible. We need to reduce the percentage of revenues that are derived from residential. Currently we are at close to 70% residential and that is a runaway train heading for the end of the line. Any development must first and foremost keep the environment in mind. We need to be much more aggressive in terms of business retention and in reaching out to potential investors/developers. |
Response Summary (top)
| Brief Response | Count | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 0 | 0.0% |
| No | 2 | 50.0% |
| Maybe | 2 | 50.0% |
0 Candidates Have Not Responded (top)
Every candidate has responded to this question.
